


CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS: FINALS

by ABOOK5117



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Spectacular Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 14:04:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17961980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABOOK5117/pseuds/ABOOK5117
Summary: Its all come down to this, the final match-up of the Contest of Champions tournament, with the Spectacular Spider-Man taking on the Iron Patriot, the newest guise of Norman Osborn. Meanwhile, the Avengers make their plans to escape the confines of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrior and end this madness once and for all. However, they soon find out that they have new challenges to overcome.Avengers, Thunderbolts, which team will be left standing when all is said and done?





	1. Chapter 1

**THE FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT, PT. 1**   
  
The Colosseum in Rome, Italy, a fitting location of the final match of the Contest of Champions tournament, but with a new ‘modifications’ thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. On top of the Colosseum was that of a large forcefield lid. Inside the Colosseum, a large metal floor is placed above the hypogeum, with two teleportation pads on in the center. And if that wasn’t enough, thousands of roman spectators fill the rows of the stadium behind specially made forcefield generators, all eager for the arrival of both the two and final combatants.    
  
Sure enough, both Spidey and the Iron Patriot soon appeared on the pads, which caused the spectators to roar in approval, almost bring the spirit of the Ancient Rome when the romans from that time period would cheer and watch two gladiators fight to the death.    
  
For Spidey, this was both surreal and unnerving. On one hand he was happy to be in Rome in its most famous landmarks. But on the other, he was here to fight one of his most dangerous enemies masquerading as a hero, a notion that made him want to vomit in his mask.    
  
Finally, the Ref Bot hovered in between Spidey and the Patriot, with the announcer’s smiling face in full view. “Gentlemen, welcome to Rome, and the final match of the tournament. But, before we begin…” the announcer then mentally commanded the Ref Bot turn to the Patriot and at the moment, a small compartment opened in the bot’s base and out popped what looked like a robot hand with it’s palm open. “Iron Patriot, if you would be so kind as to hand over your elimination buckle?"   
  
The Patriot gave the announcer a nod and complied by using his right hand to grab the buckle attached to the front of his waistline, then turned it counter clockwise to disconnect it from its hinges and placed it on top of the Ref Bot’s waiting hand.    
  
Spidey couldn’t help but be a little worried by these sudden changes in events.  _“Okay,”_ thought the Web-Head,  _“I guess they want to keep things fair by taking Norman’s buckle away, seeing is how I had to remove mine back in Japan, but Normie’s still wearing armor with God knows how many built-in weapons. Well, on the bright side, I got not only got my web-shooters, but also my spider-powers to help me stand some chance, I guess things can’t get any worse.”  
  
_ Once the Ref Bot retracted its robot hand and put the buckle back inside itself, the announcer went back to speaking. “Thank you, Iron Patriot, now we can begin the final match to determine which of you two is the true champion! And we shall do so by seeing which of you will be…the last man standing!” Before continuing, the announcer mentally commanded the Ref Bot to project a large holographic screen up for the audience to see, which turned out to be that of a digital clock starting at ten. “Meaning that the object is to knock your opponent down to the ground. Once down, we will start the clock and you will have ten seconds to get back up on your feet. If the fallen fighter does not get up by the end of the countdown, then the last person still standing on his feet will be the winner and champion!”    
  
Upon hearing this explanation, Spidey let out a disheartened sigh.  _“And there I go again, jinxing myself.”_   
  
After explaining the rules, the Ref Bot stopped projecting the clock on the screen and reverted its screen back to the serious face of the announcer to address both opponents. “However, I must stress that things are dangerous enough as it is,” said the announcer, then mentally commanded the Ref Bot to turn to the Patriot. “And that for each your personal safety, if you have any excess weapons-“   
  
The Patriot let out an annoyed grunt upon hearing the announcer’s ‘nagging’ about the combatants’ safety. “Yes, yes, I know,” he interjected, trying to sound modest, then process to press a few buttons on both of his gauntlets in front of the announcer, showing him that he was lessoning his armor’s power. “And don’t worry, I’m setting my power setting stun.”    
  
Spidey suspected that the Patriot was just pushing buttons so he can keep his the announcer and the audience happy, all the while planning on using all of his suit’s power to put him don for good. Nevertheless though, while the Ref Bot was focused on the Patriot, the Wall-Crawler took this moment to shoot webbing over his knuckles, ‘taping up’ before engaging in what could be the toughest fight of his life.    
  
As the announcer watched the Patriot finish making his adjustments to his armor, he mentally commanded the Ref Bot turn to Spidey and saw him in finish in wrapping both of his hands with webbing and took this as an indication that the Web-Slinger was ready to begin. “All right then,” said the announcer, much like the matches before, commanded the Ref Bot to fly up into the air to say the one thing that everyone, from the spectators in the Colosseum, to everyone watching around the world, were waiting to hear. “BEGIN!!!!”    
  
The Patriot wasted no time in starting things off as he pointed his open right hand at Spidey and fired a toned down repulser blast at the Web-Head.    
  
But thanks to his spider-sense, Spidey turned and saw the attack coming his way and avoided it by leaning all the way back, allowing the blast to pass over him and nearly touching the stitches on his chest. Once the blast ended up hitting the forcefield and dissipated on impact, the Wall-Crawler performed a back handspring, and upon landing on his feet, pointed his left hand at the Patriot and shot a web-line at the armored Thunderbolt.    
  
However, the Patriot anticipated this and thus held up his left hand to catch the web-line and yanked it back, pulling the Web-Slinger towards him. As he did this, he tightly clinched his right fist and once Spidey was close enough, threw straight punch, aiming for his young enemy’s abdomen and intending the knock the wind out of him.   
  
But just as Spidey was just inches away from his armored opponent, he managed to save himself by placing both of his hands on top of the Patriot’s fist and used it as a boost by pushing himself up and flipped over the Thunderbolt’s head. The Wall-Crawler then ended up landing in a crouching position and just a few feet behind the Patriot.    
  
Even in missing his target, the Patriot still refused to give Spidey the opportunity to counter-attack. As such, he quickly spun around, held up both of his hands and charged them up to fire two more concussive blasts at the crouching Web-Head.    
  
Luckily for Spidey though, he is alerted of this by his spider-sense, and thus turned and got into a kneeling position as he faced the Patriot. Moments later, he pointed both of his hands at him and shot two web-balls, both of which hit and completely covered the Patriot’s gauntlets before he could fire his repulser blasts. Now in control, Spidey jumped up into the air, held his right hand down at the still surprised Patriot, fired a web-line and made a direct hit on the Thunderbolt’s faceplate, blinding him. Moments later, Spidey made his move by web-zip towards the blinded Patriot, then curled his legs into his chest and planted both of his feet into his old enemy’s chest-plate, forcing him down to the ground on his back and pinning him down. From here, Spidey’s plan was to pull off the Patriot’s faceplate to expose his face long enough for him to punch him out and allow the announcer to count him out and win the match. Unfortunately, before the Web-Head could execute this plan, he felt his spider-sense tingle once more, thus prompting him to jump and flip forward to avoid a sneak attack in the form of the Patriot’s star-shaped uni-beam out of his chest plate.    
  
The downed Patriot did not hear Spidey scream painfully, a strong indicator that his blast did not hit him, he also didn’t feel the Web-Head’s weight on him anymore and thus was no longer keeping him down. This allowed him to point his webbed-up hands downward and fired two repulsor blasts into the ground, which not only destroyed the webbing but also propelled him into the air and back up to his feet.    
  
As for Spidey, he turned and looked over his shoulder to see that the Patriot was now back up. As such, he spun around, then ran and jumped up towards the Thunderbolt, hoping to nail him in the back with a right legged flying kick and force him back down to the ground.    
  
However, the Patriot proved that he has a few surprises of his own, in that before the tournament, he read up on Spidey’s S.H.I.E.L.D. file and remembered reading a column regarding the young hero’s powers, more specifically, his spider-sense. As such, when it came to make his armors, the Patriot decided to add a feature into the suit what would help him fight ‘fire with fire’ when it came time to fighting the Web-Head. In that in the back of the Thunderbolt’s collar was a min-camera, which spotted Spidey jumping towards him from behind and thus alerted the Patriot by activating a tingling sensation into the back of his helmet, simulating a danger sense of his own. As such, the Patriot used his left hand to pull the webbing from his faceplate, then quickly turned and held up his right arm to block Spidey’s kick, and with his armor’s strength, pushed the young Web-Head back a few feet.    
  
Though Spidey saved himself by back-flipping in mid-air and landing safely landing on his feet, he could believe that the Patriot was able to repel him as quick as he did.    
  
As for the Patriot, he looked at the bewildered Spidey with a smirk behind his faceplate. “Let me guess, you’re just now realizing that a fight against me wasn’t going to be as easy as you thought.”    
  
This remark caused Spidey to narrow his eyes angrily at the Patriot. “I never said that beating you was going to be easy!”    
  
“Nor is it possible!” the Patriot retorted, then powers on his jet boots and sped towards Spidey to run him down.    
  
As for Spidey himself, he just stood there in a readied position, waiting for the Patriot to approach him so he can give him the well-deserved beating for what he done though out this whole, agonizing day.


	2. Chapter 2

**JOINING THE PARTY  
  
** Back in the Helocarrier’s lab, the disguised Tony was still looking at the computer screen, which showed that the process of hacking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s computer system was now at forty-seven percent. Not at the level to take control of the ship, but as Vision pointed out, was nearly enough to free the desired prisoners, the Avengers, from their cells.    
  
Tony felt that Fury should know this information, given is how it was decided to join the fight of taking back S.H.I.E.L.D. and his agents. Nevertheless, he moved in closer to the radio system in which Vision already hacked and fixed to Nick’s frequency. “Fury, just a heads up, we’re about to free the Avengers.”    
  
Elsewhere, inside the ‘flight bridge’ of the small circular device that was now flying through the New York sky and heading towards the Helocarrier high above Madison Square Garden, the miniaturized Nick Fury heard Tony’s report from the built-in intercom system. The former S.H.I.E.L.D. director was not alone, for with him were Misty Knight, Sharon Carter and the newly recovered Steve Rogers, who at this time was just finishing suiting up and putting on his trademark winged mask, which completed his guise of Captain America, and it was Cap himself who decided to respond to Tony as he finally placed his shield over his right arm. “Copy that, Tony,” he said in a serious, battle ready tone.    
  
Back in the Helocarrier, Tony was pleasantly surprised to hear the newly recovered Cap on the other end. “Steve, you’re awake!” he said elated. “Which is great! Couldn’t imagine having this party without you!”    
  
On the other end, the ever no-nonsense Nick is the one who answered back. “Well, afraid it can’t be a party that you can attend, Stark,” he said sternly. “Not as long as you don’t have that armor of yours. So for the time being, it looks like you’ll have to just stay where you are until we take back the Helocarrier.”    
  
This caused Tony to let out an annoyed grunt when he heard Nick’s order. For while he didn’t like it…he couldn’t say that the veteran agent was wrong, considering that if he was going to be of any help to his friends and teammates in taking down Zemo and the mind controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, having his armor would be the best bet. “Right,” said Tony begrudgingly, then turned to Vision’s digitized head on the screen. “And since we’re on that subject, where is my armor? I remember that they forced it off me when they brought me here, but they never say where they put it.”    
  
“Well, Mr. Stark,” said Vision, trying to sound hopeful, a human trait he was still trying to master but still wanted to boost moral in billionaire. “Now that I have access to the Helocarrier’s surveillance cameras and schematics, I know the location of your armor.”    
  
Naturally, both Vision’s formality and his news regarding his armored suit brought a small smile on Tony’s face. “Okay, first of all, call me Tony. And second, where?”    
  
To answer this, Vision utilized what control he had of the Helocarrier’s systems to cause a circular chamber to come up from the floor of the lab. A split second later, the chamber opened its sliding doors and revealed Tony’s armor separated in pieces, as well as the black jumpsuit in the center.    
  
A sight which turned Tony’s smile into a grin as he pressed a small holographic button on his watch to deactivate his disguise, showing his true self, but also his prison uniform. “Vision, you are amazing!”    
  
“I am happy to be of service,” Vision replied, sounding pleased. “And I take it that you are going to ‘join the party?’”    
  
“You know it,” Tony replied as he proceeded to unzip and get out of his prison clothes. “I just need to change into the proper attire.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**THE FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT, PT. 2  
  
** Back in Rome, Spidey found himself on the defensive, using his speed and reflexes to duck and dodge powerful punching from the Patriot.    
  
Finally frustrated on how his punches missed the Web-Head, the Patriot bent down and threw a downward right hook, aiming for Spidey’s left knee and hoping to take away one of his legs to hinder his movement.    
  
**** Luckily for Spidey though, he spotted this attack coming and thus jumped up to avoid the blow, then flipped forward and kicked both of his feet into the back of the Patriot’s head, causing the Thunderbolt himself to tumble forward as a result. Upon landing on his feet, Spidey spun around to see that the Patriot managed to stop himself from falling over on his feet and saw this as a much needed opening. As such, the Web-Slinger pointed both of his hands at the Patriot’s feet and shot two web-lines, intending to trip him.    
  
However, the Patriot is once again saved by the mini-camera in his collar, which activated his armor’s ‘danger sense, and prompted him to power on his jet boots and fly into the air, causing Spidey’s webbing to hit the floor instead. Once he was in the air, the Patriot spun around, pointed his open left palm down at the Web-Head and fired a repulser blast at him, causing Spidey himself to jump in the air to dodge it. However, this was something that the armored leader of the Thunderbolts was hoping for, and with great quickness, threw his right hand forward and fired another repulser blast at Spidey while he was in mid-air.    
  
The airborne Spidey saw this attacking coming with wide open eyes and in pure desperation, he shot two web-lines at the ground below and zipped downward, succeeding in avoiding the blast and allowing it to hit the protective force field and dissipate, which such shocked the fans sitting behind it.   
  
As for the Patriot, he watched Spidey land safely on his feet, much to his frustration. He then flew downward towards the Web-Head, with the intent of pinning him down to the steel floor.    
  
Fortunately for Spidey though, he was alerted of this thanks to his spider-sense tingling, and thus jumped over to the right side, causing the Patriot to pound his right hand into the floor, making a large dent in the process.    
  
After letting out an aggravated grunt, the Patriot watched Spidey roll forward and stand back up through the corner of his right eye, then stood up, powered on his jet boots and flew straight into the air. Moments later, he sped down towards Spidey once again, this time pointing both his fist forward as he sped towards the Web-Head like a torpedo.    
  
Spidey noticed the Thunderbolt coming towards him through the corner of his left eye, and to avoid both of his armored fists, he leaned all the way back, allowing the Patriot to fly over him and just barely dodged his fists. But the Web-Head did not stop there, however, for after landing his hands, he curled his legs into his chest and thrusted them upward, where he successfully planted both of his feet into the Patriot’s planted abdomen with enough force to make him flip forward un controllably and crash into the steel floor. After saving himself, Spidey performed a back-hand spring to land on his feet, then turned around to see the Patriot himself with his back turned and had managed to pull himself up into a kneeling position, but still holding his abdomen and appeared to be in pain. After what the elder Osborn for everything that he did to him, his aunt that he made sick, his best friend that happened to be his son that he turned into a monster, and the girl that he loved that he put in danger, Spidey couldn’t help but feel a small amount of satisfaction for the damage he gave his old enemy. But at the same time, he knew that he was still his best friend’s father and knew that he still had to hold back. Not to mention the fact that he has to constantly not to go to far in order to avoid ending up just as brutal as the Thunderbolt. As such, he felt that it was time to end this match, and thus shot two web-lines at a spot that was right in between him and the kneeling Patriot, then jumped up and pulled back hard on his end of the lines, propelling himself towards his downed enemy. Once he got close enough, Spidey flipped forward and kicked his feet forward, aiming for the Patriot’s shoulder blades and planning on pinning him down face first into the floor.    
  
The pain-filled Patriot himself looked down and removed his hand from his aching abdomen and saw that Spidey’s kick had made a huge dint. Naturally, this left the Patriot stunned, as the scientist in him couldn’t help but be shocked on how Spidey’s legs could be so strong as to cause such damage. However, he was soon brought out of his bewilderment and back into reality when he felt his danger sense, which prompted him to quickly duck and allow Spidey himself to pass right over him.    
  
Fortunately, Spidey was able to land safely on his feet, and not wanting to give the Patriot a chance to recover, he spun around, ran in and threw a right legged front kick, aiming for his faceplate.    
  
Sadly, the Patriot was able to se this and thus used his hands to not only block the kick, but also push the Web-Head’s foot down to the floor.    
  
Even with his previous attack stopped, Spidey still refused to give up, and once his right foot hit the floor, he used his ‘web-taped’ left fist to go for a left hook.   
  
But just as before, the Patriot saw this attack and stopped this attack, this time by using his left hand to catch Spidey’s incoming fist, and with his armor enhancing his already enhanced strength thanks to the Greene in his system, crushed the Web-Head’s hand, causing the young man to scream in pain as he went down on one knee. This allowed the Patriot to stand back up on his feet, still crushing Spidey’s hand. “You’ll have to do better than that, bug!”    
  
Even in feeling agonizing pain of the bones in his hand crushed like a Styrofoam cup, Spidey still tried to look for a weakness he can exploit to free himself. Sure enough, he found in the huge dent that he made in the Patriot’s abdomen from earlier. “Okay…” Spidey replied in a pain but confident tone, then clinched his right taped up fist and punched the dent hard. Thanks to using half of his spider-strength, as well as the strong webbing adding to the force of his blow, this move actually succeeded in hurting the Patriot enough to let out a grunt and inadvertently released the Wall-Crawler’s left hand. Now free, Spidey took a moment to shake his left hand, as well as being glad that he could feel no broken bones. Sadly, he had no time to enjoy such relief, for he set his sights back at the now bent down Patriot, made his left hand into a fist and nailed the Thunderbolt in his jaw-line as he stood back up on his feet, causing his armored, and now dazed opponent to stagger back a couple of steps. “That’s for Aunt May,” said Spidey, with anger building in his voice. Not wasting any time, the Web-Head dashed in and gave the disoriented Patriot right cross to the side of his faceplate. “That’s for Harry…!”   
  
The Patriot, even with his helmet protecting his head, could still feel his head throbbing from Spidey’s powerful blows. But nevertheless, he shook off the pain and spotted the Web-Head going for another left uppercut, and thus held up his left arm to block the punch, then responded by throwing a right hook of his own.    
  
Fortunately for Spidey, he easily spotted this and ducked, saving his head from being knocked off by the Patriot’s punch. While bent down, the Wall-Crawler chose a more unorthodox but effective way of striking back. Meaning he used his webbed taped right fist and threw a straight punched into the Patriot’s left knee, forcing the Thunderbolt to kneel down on that knee while leaving the right knee raised up. The Web-Head then capitalized on this by placing his left foot on the Patriot’s raised right knee, pushed himself up in the air, and with his web-covered right foot, threw a round kick and nailed the Thunderbolt in his head, sending him down on the floor faceplate first. After safely landing on both webbed up feet, Spidey looked down at the dazed Patriot and angrily pointed his right index finger at him as he told him this. “And THAT's for Gwen!”    
  
The disoriented Patriot took a moment to shake his head to regain his senses, and once he did, could hear the people cheering for Spidey, and most notably, saw the Wall-Crawler standing over him and looking down on him. This caused the Patriot’s aggravation to grow into anger as he tried to grab both of Spidey’s ankles in an attempt to take him down.    
  
However, Spidey was alerted of this thanks to his spider-sense, and thus jumped and flipped backward, avoiding the Patriot’s metal hands.    
  
As he watched Spidey landed perfectly on his feet, the Patriot still refused to let off on his assault and thus mentally activated his jet boots and sped towards Spidey with his left fist cocked back, and once he was close enough, threw a left cross, to which the Wall-Crawler avoided by leaning all the way back. But even in missing Spidey’s head, the Patriot still pressed on as he took his right fist, raised it over his head and threw a hammer blow, intending to plow the Web-Slinger into the floor.    
  
Seeing his armored enemy’s fist coming down with wide open eyes, Spidey held up both his webbed-up hands and caught the Patriot’s fist before it could even hit his body. However, despite stopping the attack, the impact was still so great, it caused great strain in both of the teen’s legs.    
  
The Patriot only sneered at the young man as he continued to drive his fist down and overpower him. “Let me guess as to why you still keep fighting…and make things difficult for me,” said the Patriot. “You fight for your frail aunt? That worthless Stacy girl?! In other words, people who hinder your strength?”    
  
Spidey heard the Patriot mention the two most important women in his life while still pushing his fist upward, and thus looked up at him with an angry glare. “That’s where you’re wrong, Gobby,” retorted the Web-Head. “The people I love don’t hinder my strength. They’re the source of it!” With that declaration, Spidey mustered up enough spider-strength to push not just his body back up, but also the Patriot’s fist away from him and caused the Thunderbolt himself to stagger backward. Now with enough space between him and his armored foe, Spidey rushed in and threw a left legged front kick.    
  
However, the Patriot was just as fast to recover and upon seeing the Wall-Crawler throw his kick, he stopped it by using both hands to catch Spidey’s foot.    
  
Desperate to get free, Spidey used his one standing leg to jump up and throw a right kick, with the target being the Patriot’s head in hopes of getting him to let go.    
  
Unfortunately, the Patriot had this well scouted and ducked to avoid the kick, causing Spidey himself to land chest foot on to the floor. With the Web-Slinger’s foot still in his grasp, the Patriot made his move by throwing his young enemy’s foot upward, forcing Spidey to flip forward into the air. Once the Thunderbolt saw the red spider symbol in the airborne Spidey’s back, he took his left hand and delivered a hard palm strike at the symbol, and in the process, sent Spidey himself flying forward a few feet and landing chest first on to the floor. All which made the Patriot have a look of disappointment behind his faceplate as he walked towards the fallen Wall-Crawler. “Some source.” 


	4. Chapter 4

**ASSEMBLE**   
  
Back in New York the fans gathered at Time Square watched the final match via the large, newly repaired TV screen on Times Tower. As many of the cops still did their best to keep the crowd in check, some of the officers that were taking a break near a hotdog stand were also glued to the large TV screen watching the match of the tournament unfold.    
  
Among the cops watching were Stan Carter and Jean DeWolff, both of whom were tasked with watching over Gwen Stacy, who stood worried as she watched Spidey pick himself back up and continue his fight with the Patriot    
  
Moments later, they were soon joined by Captain George Stacy, who appeared to be physically and mentally exhausted. And with having to deal with a battle hungry crowd, as well as still trying to recover from being mind-controlled and having his daughter kidnapped, who could blame him. Nevertheless, he tapped Stan’s shoulder to get his attention. “Carter, I’m going to need either you or DeWolff to take over for one officer over there,” he told him, pointing his right thumb at one tired officer at a nearby street light. “He looks like he’s about to fall asleep.”    
  
“No problem, Captain, I’ll take that shift,” Stan told his captain, then through the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Spidey now back up on his feet and ducking a punch from the Patriot, all which while holding his chest, wincing as he struggled to keep his stitches from popping out. A sight which left Stan quite worried. “Man, I’ve never seen the Web-Head struggle like that before.”    
  
George turned to the see to see the fight for himself and was also concerned at what he saw. Still, he tried to remain somewhat optimistic for the sake of the morale of his squad. “Yeah well, don’t count him out yet. He’s been through worse.”   
  
Stan responded with both a small smile and a nod, knowing that he was telling the truth in that regard. Afterwards, he proceeded to relieve the nearby officer and relieve him.    
  
As for George himself, he turned to the one person whose well-being was first and foremost on his mind: his daughter Gwen. He knew that she had been through a lot to day and was a little confused as to why she was so invested in this match in particular. Nevertheless, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder to let her know that he was by her side.    
  
Gwen felt her father’s touch and looked up to him. Knowing of his overprotective nature, she gave him a sweet smile as she placed her hand over his. Afterwards, she went back to watch the match, and her concerned quickly returned as she saw Spidey leap to the right side to avoid the Patriot’s repulser blast.  _“Come on, Parker,”_ she thought.  _“Win this without getting hurt too badly! Because whether you like it or not, we still need to talk, and I can’t give you a piece of my mind if you’re beaten into a coma…or worse!”_   
  
Meanwhile, back in the brig of the Helocarrier, things were looking grim for the imprisoned Avengers, as all they could do was sit in their cells and presumably wait for whatever insidious plan that Zemo and Osborn have in store for them. However, they all received quite a shock when the forcefield doors of all the Avengers cells soon deactivated, which caused all the confused heroes to walk out of their cells and leaving the still imprisoned Thunderbolts both shocked and angry.    
  
And it was that of a stunned Wasp who said what the rest of her teammates were thinking. “Okay, not that I’m complaining, but what just happened?”    
  
It was here that the cool and collected T’Challa stepped out and is the first to answer. “That would be, Stark. It would appear that he had a back-up to free not just himself, but all of us in case he lost his match against Osborn.”    
  
The next Avenger to speak up is that of Luke Cage, who was soon joined by his fellow Heroes for Hire, Iron Fist and Ant-Man. “Well, I guess Stark is more than just some rich dude in a suit after all.”    
  
Moments later, Hawkeye soon stepped out and chuckled at Luke’s remark. “Yeah, well, believe us, we we have a hard time believing it too,” said the archer, earning him a nod of begrudging agreement from T’Challa. Moments later, Hawkeye is stunned when he looked forward and made eye contact with Black Widow free, and gave his old partner a nod and smile, happy to see that she was free.    
  
Natasha responded with a smile of her own, feeling equally glad to see Hawkeye out of his cell and in one piece.    
  
Suddenly, the Wasp is alerted when he heard what appeared to be metal pieces coming apart. She turned to see where the noises were coming from and was surprised to see Yellowjacket freeing himself from the restraints and walking out of his cell, rubbing his aching wrists. “Hank!” Wasp exclaimed in a happy tone, and through instinct, rushed over to hug him. However, upon coming closer to him, she got a better view of the Yellowjacket symbol on his chest and was reminding of his newer, egotistical personality and stopped dead in her tracks and gave him an angry and bitter look. “Well,” she told him crossing her arms. “I see that the great Yellowjacket doesn’t need any help in getting free.”    
  
Little did Wasp know was that the man in the black and yellow costume was no longer the aggressive vigilante that scorned but was that of the brilliant and peace-loving pacifist Hank Pym, who earlier managed to destroy the Yellowjacket personality to regain control of his body, as well as his life. And though he was hurt by Wasp’s harsh reaction, he couldn’t say blame her for hating him, for he also hated himself for allowing his inner demons to get the better of him and allow such a violent personality take hold and hurt not just Wasp, but the rest of his teammates as well. “Jan…”    
  
Suddenly, the bitter reunion between the two size-altering former partners, as well as would be lovers, was interrupted when Ms. Marvel cam in between them. “Clamp it!” the angry Ms. Marvel told Hank, then turned her attention to the Wasp, giving her a concerned look. “Look Jan, as much as I’d like to see you rip Pym a new one, it’s going to have to wait for now.”    
  
Just then, another Avenger stepped out and his specially made cell to region his teammates, and it was none other than Thor, who at once was frozen in place by yellow energy due to his literal godly abilities. But thanks to Vision’s hacking, the energy that consumed his body had dissipated and he regain his mobility and freedom, as well as feeling livid over how Osborn forced him to admit defeat in their match. “Aye, friend Carol,” said the Thunder God. “It is time we made Osborn and his band of curs pay for what they did to us, as well as stopping what ever sick and twisted plan they have for this world!”    
  
Moments later, all the Avengers present received another surprise when they heard what sounded like a small, almost bug like voice. “Couldn’t have said it better myself, Big Guy,” said the voice, then suddenly, the small disc soon materialized, opened its door and out jumped what looked like four specs, which soon began to grow large. Once they grew to human size, it was revealed that the voice belonged to Steve Rogers, fully recovered and in the red, white and blue uniform of Captain America. With him were that of Sharon Carter, Misty Knight, and Nick Fury, all of whom have successfully infiltrated the Helocarrier so they can free and join their friends in taking it back. And with shield in hand, the determined Cap said this to his teammates once he had their attention. “Avengers Assemble!” 


	5. Chapter 5

**THE FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT: PT. 3  
  
** Things continued to heat up in the championship match, as Spidey, despite feeling intense pain in his chest due to the claw marks being aggravated when he felt on to them, continued to press on as he used both of his web-taped hands to block two punches from the Patriot. Finally, after ducking to avoid an incoming right hook, Spidey passed underneath the Patriot’s right side, and once he ended up behind him, looked over his shoulder to see that the Thunderbolt himself has turned around and tries to slow him down by throwing a left legged back kick, aiming for the still visible dent in his opponent’s armored abdomen.   
  
However, the Patriot threw his left arm downward and easily blocked the kick and push Spidey’s foot outward. Afterwards, the Thunderbolt saw the Web-Head throw a right legged round-kick, and thus held up his right arm and blocked that blow to protect his helmeted head. Quickly growing tired of being on the defensive, the Patriot fought back by throwing a left legged front kick.   
  
Luckily for Spidey though, he managed to stop the kick by using both of his hands to grab the Patriot’s left foot, which in itself felt like catching a steal beam. But even in stopping this attack, Spidey knew that he was still not safe, as he was proven as he felt his spider-sense tingling. This compelled him to let go of his old foe’s foot and jumped up as the Patriot mentally commanded his boot to mentally commanded the rockets in the bottom of his boot and caused the Thunderbolt to fly backward. But even as he zoomed away from the airborne Web-Slinger, the Patriot did not want to give the young hero the chance to fight back. Thus, as he flew backward, he held up both of his hands, aimed at Spidey and shot two repulser blasts.   
  
While in mid-air, Spidey saw this attack coming his way with wide open eyes and thus desperately tried a web move that he had been practicing for weeks but had not yet perfected. Meaning he held up both hands, shot webbing until he created a ‘web-shield’ and held it in front of his body. Moments later, the blasts hit the shield and while it was successful in blocking the Thunderbolt’s attack, the shield evaporated upon contact and sent Spidey flying back and landing spider first on to the steel floor.   
  
The Patriot managed to stop himself by pointing both of his hands behind him, then fired two blast which caused him to come to a complete stop. Once his feet hit the ground, the Patriot mentally commanded his jet boots to activate, then hovered in the and looked down at the fallen Spidey, who at this point was wincing in pain.   
  
High above the arena, the announcer, via the Ref Bot, saw Spidey on the floor and thus began the countdown, and as he did so, mentally commanded four large holoscreens that showed the numbers for the crowd to see and join in counting down with him. “One….two…three…”   
  
As both the announcer and the Roman crowd counted Spidey down, the Patriot decided to make sure that the Web-Head stayed down. Meaning that he pointed both of his fists down at the fallen Spidey and fired four horseshoe shaped cuffs from out of the top of his gauntlets and towards the Wall-Crawler, each aimed for his wrists and ankles.   
  
However, even with his back racked with pain, Spidey was once again alerted by his spider-sense and by pure instinct, sat up and rolled forward, successfully dodging the cuffs and causing them to hit and bury themselves into the steel floor instead. Once he ended up in a kneeling position, Spidey fought back by looking up at the Patriot, then pointed both of his hands at him and fired two web-lines.   
  
The Patriot was too late to react against the two web-lines, for they both ended up hitting and sticking to him, with one line hitting his faceplate and the other hitting the Uni-star on his chest.   
  
Upon making a direct hit, Spidey made his move by yanking down hard with his spider-strength, and in turn, pulled the Patriot down towards him. Once the Thunderbolt was close enough, the Web-Head jumped up, flipped forward and planted both of his feet into the Patriot’s shoulders, and more specifically, behind his collar, which shattered the built-in camera as the armored leader of the Thunderbolts flying forward.   
  
As for Spidey himself, he landed safely on his feet, then spun around in a readied stance as he knew the Patriot could recover at any moment.   
  
Sure enough, the Web-Head’s instincts were correct as the Patriot brought himself to a halt by pointing his palms downward and fired his repulsers, as well as powered on his jet boots. Though he managed later lowered himself to the floor, he still had the misfortune of having webbing covering his chest and faceplate.  
  
Naturally, Spidey didn’t want to give his web-covered opponent a chance to attack again, and thus proceeded to run towards him.   
  
Meanwhile, the blinded Patriot listened to the A.I. as he ripped the webbing off his chest plate. “WARNING,” said the A.I. “REAR-VIEW CAMERA IS HEAVLY DAMAGED. COUNTER SENSE IS NOW DEACTIVATED.”   
  
This news caused the Patriot to sigh in annoyance. _“Terrific,”_ he thought, but still chose to keep a calm head and not to let his emotions overtake him. A practice that has served him well, be it running his business or managing a team of meta-humans. _“But on the bright side, I know that the Web-Head is coming after me now. Which gives me the opportunity to do this!”_ The Patriot then spun around and with a mental command, charged up the Uni-Star and fired a laser blast, which evaporated the webbing on his chest plate and headed straight towards Spidey himself.   
  
Spidey saw this coming with his eye huge with shock and just barely dodged the blast by flipping sideways to the right in a corkscrew motion.   
  
Though he missed, the Patriot kept on the assault by holding him his left arm, taking aim at the Web-Head as soon as he landed on his feet and fired another repulser blast.   
  
Thanks to his spider-sense, Spidey easily anticipated this attack and avoided it by leaning sideways to the left. Upon standing up right, Spidey saw that the Patriot was already holding up his right hand, and seconds later, fire another blast. This in turn prompted the Web-Head to run forward, jump up and flip over the blast. Once he landed on his feet, Spidey felt his spider-sense tingle once again and instinctively looked straight ahead to see the Patriot was now dashing towards him and throwing a left hook. Acting fast, Spidey used his left hand to catch the Thunderbolt’s left fist, and thanks to the combination of his spider strength and web-tape, it did not result in any broken bones in his hand, but it still felt like he caught a cannon ball that was just shot out, which caused the Wall-Crawler some strain. Nevertheless, Spidey did not drop his guard, especially when he spotted the Patriot going for a right jab, and thus used his taped right hand to catch the armored fist and used his strength to push both armored fists outward as he tried to overpower the Patriot. “Well, I gotta say Gobby,” said the Web-Head as he struggled to push him down, no doubt because of both his opponent’s armor and the strength enhancing Greene still in his system. “You’re doing a fine job at using the armor you stole…and by fine job, I mean lousy.”   
  
Obviously, this quip did not sit well with the Patriot, and with an annoyed growl, he pulled both of his fists out of Spidey’s hands and threw a right legged knee strike, aiming for the Web-Head’s abdomen.   
  
Luckily though, Spidey was quick to respond by throwing both of his taped downward to block the knee strike. However, the force of the blow was so strong, it actually sent the Web-Head up seven feet into the air.   
  
This, of course, allowed the Patriot to reach up with one hand to grab Spidey’s right ankle and slammed the Web-Head spine first into the steel floor with great force. Moments later, he tossed the Wall-Crawler eight feet away like he was a ragdoll.   
  
Fortunately for Spidey though, he was able to flip in a corkscrew once again and safely landed on all fours, despite being in incredible pain from being slammed earlier, as he showed by holding his lower back with his right hand, all the while using his left hand to lift up the lower part of his mask and spit out blood. _“Okay, think I struck a nerve,”_ he thought to himself sarcastically, and despite the fact that his back was killing him, as well as being afraid that one of the stitches in his chest had come undone, the Wall-Crawler still willed himself back up to his feet, and once he saw the Patriot walking towards him, got in a readied stance, albeit wincing in agony briefly. _“But whether your flying around in armor or riding a giant bat-shaped glider dressed like a tree elf from hell, I’m still going to use every ounce of energy in my barely functioning body to bring you down Osborn! Or at least go down trying!”  
_


	6. Chapter 6

**GATHERING OF HEROES  
  
** Over in the Daily Bugle, many of its staff members watched the match between Spidey and the Iron Patriot in some form or fashion. Some what from the TV’s in the lobby, while others watch from their iPhone’s while at their desks, breakrooms or anywhere else in the building. But in the office of J. Jonah Jameson, mixed feelings filled the room. For as Robbie Robinson watched in worry of Spidey’s well-being, Jonah himself grinned from ear to ear as he watched the Patriot appeared to get the upper hand. “YEAH! ATTA BOY NORMAN!” Jonah exclaimed loudly as he watched the Patriot used his left hand to catch the web-line shot from Spidey, then pulled the Web-Head towards him just so he could use his right arm to give him a hard clothesline. “Now this is starting to get entertaining! It’s about time that someone put that Wall-Crawling freak in his place! In fact, this gives me an idea!” With that said, Jonah turned his attention to his open office door and to a male employee in his mid-thirties and with brown hair, wearing glasses and a suit minus his jacket. “HOFFMAN!”    
  
Upon hearing Jonah scream his name, Hoffman quickly and nervously entered his office, nearly tripping over his own feet once he arrived. “Y-Yes, Mr. Jameson?” he asked timidly, as he usually did in Jonah’s presence.    
  
“Stop the presses, because here’s the title for the next story!” said Jonah as he placed his hand in the air to emphasize the importance of the name of the paper’s soon to be biggest scoop, at least in his mind. “Iron Patriot, the TRUE heroic champ, squashes Spider-Man, the Wall-Crawling chump!”   
  
Robbie gave Jonah a complete bewildered look on how he was ‘jumping the gun’ when it came to the paper’s top headline. “Jonah, the match is still going on!”    
  
Before answering, Jonah looked back at the TV to see the Patriot hold Spidey up over his shoulders, then threw him down to the steel floor, which made his grin become even wider. “Might not be that way for long, Robbie,” he replied, then noticed that Hoffman was still in his office, which made his happy mood quickly turned back to his usual angry one. “WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING THERE, HOFFMAN?! YOU GOT TWO POINT THREE SECONDS TO MAKE OUR TOP STORY HAPPEN OR YOUR FIRED! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!”    
  
“Yes sir!” Hoffman yelped in fear, then high tailed it out of his office and sped towards the elevators so he can run to the printing presses to carry out Jonah’s request.    
  
As for Robbie, he only shook his head in both pity and silent disappointment at Jonah, as he could believe that his hatred of Spider-Man was so great, he would allow it to affect his judgement as editor and go ahead and make a glorified story for the Iron Patriot before the match was even over. He then turned back to the TV to see Spidey himself painfully roll on his stomach to crawl away from the Patriot.  _“Come on, Web-Head,”_ Robbie thought.  _“You never some guy in a robot suit stop you before, don’t start now!”_   
  
Meanwhile, back on the main bridge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrier, Zemo, Maria and the rest of the agents continued to watch the match via the large screen and they soon see the Patriot use his right hand to grab Spidey by the back of his neck and lift him up into the air. However, it was here that the Web-Head, despite that his back was still aching, managed to escape by using his left leg to kick backward and nail the Patriot in the still visible dent in his abdomen, forcing the Thunderbolt to let go of the Wall-Crawler’s neck and thus allow him to drop down safely on his feet.    
  
Upon seeing Spidey get free from the Patriot’s hold, Zemo shook his head in disappointment. “Oh Norman,” he muttered. “You’re allowing a child to make a fool of you in front of the entire world. Not to mention making my decision to cut you loose all the more easier.”    
  
Suddenly, and without warning, Maria started to gasp loudly, until finally, her eyes rolled to the back of her head. She then allowed her eyelids to close and her head to droop down, losing consciousness while still standing on her feet.    
  
Something that did not sit well with the shocked Zemo. “What?!”    
  
Not long after that, the rest of the agents on the bridge all started gasping as well, and just like Maria, all passed out at their stations. But most surprising of all, the images on the stations’ computers, as well as the large screen showing the match, all changed to the image of the Vision’s face avatar.    
  
A sight that left Zemo all the more dumbfounded. “What’s happening?!” he exclaimed and received another surprise when he heard the main door burst down, causing him to spin around. Moments later, what the former leader of H.Y.D.R.A. saw next made his eyes grow big.    
  
It was that of Tony Stark, who was now in his Iron Man armor and revealed to be the one who punched down the door. Not only that, but with him were his teammates, the Avengers, namely Cap, Thor, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Hank ‘Yellowjacket’ Pym, the Wasp and the still human Bruce Banner, wearing nothing but his red torn jeans. Also present were that of the new Avengers, which was Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ant-Man and Wolverine. And finally, Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors, Misty Knight, Sharon Carter, Black Widow and Quake.    
  
The first of the Avengers to address Zemo was that of Cap, with shield in hand and his eyes narrowed at his old enemy. “WE’RE happening, Zemo!”    
  
“Captain!” said the stunned Zemo. “You are cured?! How?!”    
  
Iron Man is the next to speak up, all while charging up both his repulser gauntlets. “You’ll have plenty of time to figure that out Zemo, once you back in your nice cozy cell in Prison 42!”    
  
And Nick decided to be the next to address the masked madman with his cool, calm swagger still present. “So, we’ll give you a choice! You can either come quietly or be taken.”    
  
Wolverine, as if on cue, popped out the claws in his right hand as a way to intimidate the stunned Zemo. “And bub, I’m hopin’ you wanna be taken’.”    
  
At this point, Zemo took a moment to regain his composure and not give his enemy’s any further satisfaction of his bewilderment, then placed his hands behind his back as he glared at the feral X-Man. For he remembered that he had prepared for such a situation and secretly used his left hand to secretly pull out a small device out of his right glove. “Well, you have the opportunity to try, mutant filth! However, in regards to fighting for the sake of both my freedom and the success of my plan, I shall not do it alone.” With that said, Zemo pressed the button on the device, and suddenly, what appeared to be sixteen flashes of light occurred and as they materialized, they are revealed to be the recruits of his NEW Thunderbolts team.    
  
This new team consisted of that of the Serpent Society, such as…    
  
KING COBRA: (a man in green and purple body armor and with his mask looking like that of his namesake.)    
  
ANACONDA: (a large, bulky blonde-haired woman with gold armor and green armor.)    
  
BUSHMASTER: (a large, humanoid snake creature with robotic arms and a long tail instead of a pair of legs.)    
  
DEATH ADDER: (a man clad in purple armor wearing clawed gloves and a green helmet mask with a ‘mohawk’ type fin on the top)    
  
CONSTRICTOR: (a masked man clad in a purple and orange bodysuit and two tentacle-like coils protruding from the back of both of his hands.)    
  
And MADAME VIPER: (a tall, slender woman clad in a green body suit and with match green hair.)    
  
There was another team that made his large group as well, and they were the Wrecking Crew. Consisting of such members as…   
  
WRECKER: (a tall, muscular man wearing a purple mask, green bodysuit and carrying a large crowbar.)    
  
THUNDERBALL: (a large, bulky African American male clad in yellow and green clothing and carrying a large ball and chain.)    
  
PILEDRIVER: (a tall man with blonde hair, wearing red and white clothing.)    
  
And BULLDOZER: (a large, imposing, bulky man wearing an orange bodysuit and donning a silver steel helmet.)    
  
Three members of crime in New York also helped make up this gathering of villains. Which was…    
  
TOMBSTONE: (The former Big Man of Crime, with his chalk-white skin and hair, imposing physique and wearing a black bodysuit as oppose to one of his many tailored business suits.)    
  
SILVER SABLE:  (The silver haired daughter of the crime boss, Silvermane, donning her traditional matching silver combat gear.)    
  
And TITANIA: (a tall, muscular, red headed masked woman clad in a dark, purple spikey suit and who was now serving as Sable’s personal bodyguard.)    
  
And the last and final member to complete this team was that of the RED HULK, who popped his knuckles with anticipation in fighting his former ‘teammates’, the Avengers.    
  
Needless to say, this new development caused great worry within the Avengers, especially Iron Man, who looked on with a worried expression behind his faceplate. “Okay, wasn’t expecting this.”    
  
Zemo chuckled once he heard the shocked Iron Man’s statement. “Of course, you didn’t,” he told the Armored Avenger. “After you defeated the original, as well as defective, Thunderbolts. I took it upon myself to recruit these new members. Some of which who have agreed to help me finish you!”    
  
Moments later, Tombstone addressed Zemo with a slight glare, appearing not to fully trust him. “IF you honor your part of the agreement in restoring me back to my position in my syndicate.”    
  
“But of course, Mr. Lincoln. I can assure you, you’re trust in me well founded,” Zero replied, then turned to both him and Silver Sable with a distrustful look on his own. “Just as I trust that the both you and Ms. Manfredi will be on your best behavior when it comes to dealing with our current situation?”    
  
At that moment, both Sable and Tombstone turned to each other with looks of pure disdain. Last time they were together, it was part of a meeting that had not just themselves, but her father and the scientist, Doctor Otto Octavius. She remembered being tranquilized by her old flame, Hammerhead, but she also remembered being told that Silvermane was imprisoned that night. And though Tombstone himself was imprisoned as well, she still held him partially responsible for her father’s imprisonment.    
  
But Tombstone, ever the professional, turned his attention away from Sable and back to Zemo. “Of course. This is strictly business.”    
  
A still bitter Sable said nothing, for she still kept her sights on Tombstone, her temporary partner, but her still sworn enemy. “For now, anyway,” she said quietly, then turned her attention back to the Avengers, then pulled out two metallic-like cuffs from her right side-pocket and placed them over her fingers.    
  
As for Zemo, he was convinced by Tombstone’s words and thus looked back at the baffled Avengers. As he did this, he used his right hand to reach over his left said and pulled out his sword, all the while still holding the device in his left hand. “Well then, let’s get on with it!” Zemo declared, then took a moment to looked around the bridged and saw that its nowhere near the appropriate place to have a battle of this scale. “But let us take this to a place that is a little less…crucial.” With that said, he doubled clicked the button on the device, and moments later, both teams were transported out of the bridge and into an unknown place to have their final showdown.    
  
The digital Vision head is left all alone on the bridge, and as much as he wanted to help them, he knew that he couldn’t. For one, he still had no body, and could not physically aid them if he wanted to. And two, he knew that they would want him to carry on his task in hacking the S.H.I.E.L.D. databanks, to which he was almost finished. However, that still did not stop him from worrying about the superhero team that he regarded as his family, and thus could only sadly say this. “Be careful, my friends.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT: PT. 4  
  
** Back in Rome, Spidey still found himself on the ropes as he jumped and flipped over every repulser blast fired by the Patriot. It certainly didn’t help the Web-Head when every fast and sudden movement he made further increased the pain that he was already in. But nevertheless, he still soldiered on, and after jumping and flipping forward to avoid another blast, Spidey went for a right legged scissors-kick, aiming for the dent on the Patriot’s abdomen.    
  
Unfortunately, the Patriot spotted this attack coming and quickly sidestepped to the right to avoid it. But even in dodging that attack, the Thunderbolt saw that Spidey is not finished with his assault, for as soon as both feet hit the floor, the Wall-Crawler quickly turned and went for a left legged spinning back kick, with the dent still target. This, in turn, prompted the Patriot to throw his right arm downward and block the kick.    
  
Despite having his kick deflected, Spidey still refused to give up as he pulled his left leg back and went for a right spinning back fist.    
  
The Patriot, however, is all too ready for this and thus held up his right hand and caught Spidey’s fist. Moments later, he made his move by using his left fist to deliver a quick jab underneath the Web-Head’s side, then pulled the same fist back and delivered a left hook to the Web-Head’s left eye, leaving a huge crack in his eye-piece and knocking him loopy. After this attack, the Patriot released the Wall-Crawler’s hand, allowing him to drop to the steel floor.    
  
The armored Thunderbolt’s counter attack was seen by both the Roman crowd, and the announcer via the Ref Bot. And with Spidey down, he began to count the fallen Wall-Crawler out. “One…two…three!”    
  
As the count out commenced, the Patriot himself walked over to Spidey, who was still on the floor and holding his side in agony from the last punch. “I just cracked three ribs, Spider-Man,” said the Patriot, looking at Spidey’s body via an X-Ray system in his helmet. “It doesn’t take a genius to know that you should stay down.”   
  
Despite the pain of his newly cracked ribs, Spidey chose not to give the Patriot the satisfaction of giving in, for the sake of his teammates and loved ones. And so, he tucked his neck in, then rolled his upper back and swung both of his legs up into the air in a counter clockwise motion, forcing the Patriot to step back. One he received the spaced needed, the Web-Head landed on his knees and with his lower body strength, shot right back up on his feet, gutting through the pain as he placed his left hand under his side and over his crack ribs. This caused the crowd to cheer at Spidey’s amazing display of ‘break-dancing skills’, and thus the Web-Head himself shot small webbing from out of his left wrist and over the spot where his cracked ribs were located. A task which was painful upon impact, but he knew that it provided his new injury some protection for the rest of the match, or at least he hoped. Afterwards, Spidey got into a readied fighting stance, briefly wincing as he got into this position. “Not happening, Normie! Besides, I’m just getting warmed up.”    
  
This answer only irritated the Patriot, causing him to let out a low growl. “You truly are a glutton for punishment.”    
  
“Only when I have people to fight for!” replied the determined Spidey, despite feeling his left eye swelling underneath his mask.    
  
As for the Patriot, he only grunted as he charged up his gauntlets once more. “I’ll be sure to give them my condolences on your failure…if I decided to let them live!” The Thunderbolt then held up his left hand and fired a repulser blast at the patched-up Spidey.    
  
Luckily, Spidey anticipated this and quickly ducked sideways to the right to avoid it, despite the quick movement causing more damaged to his ribs. Nevertheless, he easily shook off the pain as he kept the Patriot in his sits while still bent down.  _“Keep talking, Osborn!”_ he thought angrily, clearly not taking kindly to what the Patriot just say what he had in mind for the Wall-Crawler’s loved ones after the match. Moments later, he spotted the Patriot using his right hand to fire another blast, and gritting his teeth, rolled to the left side to avoid it.     
****


	8. Chapter 8

**BATTLE ROYALE  
  
** Inside the large training room of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrier, one would say it was the setting of an all-out war. For it was here that the recently transported Avengers were taking on Zemo and ‘New’ Thunderbolts.    
  
Within the chaotic battle, the two leaders of their respected teams, Captain America and Baron Zemo, found themselves once again engaged in mortal combat with Zemo throwing lightning fast sword strikes at Cap, who used his symbolic round shield on his right arm to block each strike that came his way. After blocking one slash, Cap pushed Zemo’s blade to the right side and tried to fight back by throwing a left jab.    
  
However, Zemo stepped back to the right to avoid the blow and Cap passed by him, the Baron thrusted his blade forward to literally stab his enemy in the back.    
  
But thanks to his instincts brought out by years of training and fighting, Cap anticipated this and thus spun around and threw his right arm in a back-fist motion, and in turn, used his shield to deflect the blade.    
  
Even though his attack was stopped, Zemo refused to give Cap the upper hand and as soon as he spotted him going for a left hook, he ducked underneath that punch, and as he stood back up, pulled his sword back and threw a right backhanded slash, wanting to take the Super Soldier’s head right off his shoulders.    
  
Luckily for Cap though, he anticipated this move as well and ducked to avoid getting decapitated. While in a knelt down position, he looked up and saw Zero hold his sword over his head and threw a downward overhead slash, intending to drive the black right into the top of the Super Soldier’s skull and literally cut his head in half. This attack failed however, as Cap held his shield over his head and blocked the attack in just the nick of time. Not wanting to stay bent down for long, Cap pushed the blade upward as he stood up, and in the process caused Zemo to stumble backward briefly before stopping himself and getting into a fencing stance.    
  
As both Zemo and Cap circled around each other, the Baron decided to say this to his old enemy with his blade still drawn. “Though I am a bit baffled to see that you are cured from the Morlun Virus, I am glad that it did not take your life,” said Zemo. “Because now, I have the opportunity to finish you off myself.”    
  
Cap returned Zemo’s overconfident remark with a scowl, as well as this retort. “Just like many times before, you’ll fail miserably.”    
  
“We shall see!” Zemo fired back, then thrusted his blade forward at Cap’s abdomen, only for the Sentinel of Liberty to once again block it with his shield.    
  
Elsewhere in the training room, there was a clash between two team’s powerhouses. For the Red Hulk and the Wrecking Crew were now engaging the team of Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp and Yellowjacket.    
  
It was here that the Red Hulk chose Thor as an opponent, for he threw power punches to which the battle-hardened Thor was able to dodge and avoid. Finally, after ducking to avoid the red monster’s left hook, Thor responded by jumping up and throwing Mjolnir up in a left uppercut fashion, nailing the Red Hulk in the chin and knocking him down on his back. The hovering Thor then looked down at the fallen Red Hulk with a look of disappointment. “Clearly when it comes to battle, Troll, you are no Hulk!” said the Thunder God, as he raised Mjolnir over his head, then flew straight down and attempted to pound the Red Hulk’s face in with his hammer, intending to knock him out.    
  
However, the Red Hulk avoided this by rolling to the left side, causing Thor to pound his hammer into the floor instead and create a large dent. Upon getting up, the Red Hulk started to walk over to the still kneeling Thor. “Correction blondie, I’m not the Hulk that you know…I’m the Hulk that’s better!” At that moment, the red skinned monster ran towards Thor and used his right leg to kick the Thunder God the face and sent him flying across the room.    
  
Meanwhile, Iron Man was in the air and hovered to the left side to avoid an incoming metal ball and chain thrown at him by Thunderball and responded by holding out his right hand and firing a repulser blast, one that was so strong, that upon hitting the Wrecking Crew member in the chest, it knocked him off of his feet and landed hard on the steel floor. Through the corner of his left eye, he spotted the dazed Thor sliding down off the wall, and what was worse, the Red Hulk was running towards him. “J.A.R.V.I.S.,” said the Armored Avenger with urgency in his voice. “How’s the Uni-Beam?”    
  
“Seventy nine percent charged,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied. “Given the fact that the armor has only just activated and still recharging, utilizing the Uni-Beam is…”    
  
“Just do it, J.A.R.V.I.S!” Iron Man chimed in as he hovered her into the air above the Red Hulk. “Thor’s about to get creamed!”    
  
“Very well, sir,” replied the A.I. with his usual proper demeanor while still trying to hide his annoyance. “Activating Uni-Beam now.”    
  
At that moment, Iron Man’s arc reactor began to charge and moments later, a large blast came out of the Shellhead’s chest plate, which ended up hitting the Red Hulk in his back and sent him down chest first on to the floor.    
  
As Iron Man continued to fire his blast and keep the Red Hulk pinned down, he unknowingly left himself open to another member of the Wrecking Crew, Piledriver, who jumped up into the air from the right side and gave Iron Man a hard right-cross to his jawline, causing the Shellhead to stop firing his Uni-Beam and fall down hard on to the floor senseless.    
  
Upon landing on his feet, Piledriver chuckled as he looked down at the fallen Iron Man and was just about to run in and literally kick him while he was down. However, he was soon stopped when the pixie sized Wasp flew in right in front of the Wrecking Crew member’s face and fired a stinger blast into his eyes, blinding him and making him stagger backward in pain. As the suffering Piledriver wandered around aimlessly, another small sized hero, Ant-Man, cam flying in via a winged ant, then jumped off of its back and threw a right legged flying kick, nailing Piledriver in the chin and face first into the floor.    
  
As for Iron Man, he shook his head to regain his senses, and was alerted when he felt what appeared to be large footsteps heading towards him from behind. As he looked over his shoulder, he saw the literal metal head, Bulldozer, charging towards him. “Oh boy!” said the Shellhead, then held both of his palms down on the floor and powered on both of his repulsers and jet boots to shoot himself straight up into the air, successfully dodging Bulldozer’s charge attack and causing the helmeted brute to continue running.    
  
Meanwhile, the insect sized Ant-Man landed on the floor, only to see from his point of view, the giant’ Bulldozer about to step on him. This, in turn, prompted the small Hero for Hire to act by grow in size…and turn into his twenty-foot-tall alter-ego, Giant-Man, with his head touching and almost bursting through the ceiling. Moments later, he used his new size to his advantage by using his now large right hand and placed it on top of Bulldozer, pinning him down to the floor.    
  
This act was seen by the airborne Iron Man, who couldn’t help but be impressed by how Scott Lang quickly mastered Hank Pym’s giant growth.  _“Okay, so far, so good,”_ thought Iron Man, but later heard the loud, deep screaming of a large man coming from the right side, and as he turned, he saw that it belonged to Wrecker, who was jumping towards him and going to use his crowbar to knock him out of the air. Luckily for Iron Man though, he held up both of his hands and fired two repulser blasts, nailing the Wrecker in the chest and sending him crashing down to the floor below.  _“Here’s hoping that it stays that way!”_   
  
Meanwhile, as the Wasp dodged Piledriver’s right hand to avoid being swatted, she quickly flew in low and shot another sting blast at his right knee, forcing the blonde-haired brute to kneel down. As she flew back up into the air to blast her enemy’s right temple, she noticed Hank Pym, who for all she knew was still the arrogant Yellowjacket, appearing to be putting something together. “Hank? What are you doing?” she asked as she flew closer to him.    
  
Before answering, Hank took a moment to attach both a silver, circular shaped barrel to a handle, making it resemble that of a handgun. “I’m afraid that all we’re doing is slowing down Zemo and his men. We need a more effective way of stopping them.”  At that point, Hank realized what he just said, and thus quickly turned to the shocked Wasp so he could rephrase his answer. “And by ‘effective’, I mean imprison them!”    
  
Naturally, this change in Hank’s tone surprised Wasp, for it was like she could sense the old Hank Pym, the man that she fell in love with. However, considering his mental state when he became Yellowjacket, she was a bit distrustful. “Imprison?” she asked, then looked at the gun that he was assembling and seemed to recognize it. “Wait, is that your shrink ray? The one that’s also a like a small prison?”    
  
“Right,” Hank replied, then went to work on the gun’s energy settings. “The S.H.I.E.L.D. guards confiscated my first gun, but luckily, I created a small, more easily assembled one just in case. Once it’s ready, I should be able to shrink down and properly imprison Zemo and the rest of the villains. I just need two more minutes!”   
  
The more Wasp listened to his voice, the more she felt the gentle soul that Hank Pym once was before the violent mindset of Yellowjacket took over. Sadly, Wasp couldn’t enjoy this for long, as she saw Piledriver get back up on his feet and was just about to swat Hank with his open right hand. This prompted her fly, grab Hank by his shoulders and fly him straight up into the air to avoid Piledriver’s hand and cause him to hit nothing but air instead. Afterwards, Wasp counter attack by flying downward, then grew to human size and delivered a stiff right legged side kick to Piledriver’s jaw, sending him down to the floor and outcold. After safely landing on her feet, Wasp, quickly shrunk back down to insect size and flew back up to a stunned Hank. “You’ve got less than one!” she told him with urgency, then turned around and charged up her hands, acting as Hank’s protection while he worked on his shrink ray.    
  
Hank couldn’t help but be surprised, as well as impressed, with how the Wasp just took down a foe as strong as Piledriver, but remembering their situation, he shook off such feelings and continued to work on setting his shrinking gun, so he could help Jan and the rest of his teammates subdue the villains, and hopefully atone for all the harm he caused his friends, colleagues, and the woman he still loved. 


	9. Chapter 9

**THE FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT: PT. 5  
  
** Back in Rome, Spidey, despite still suffering from his injuries, new and old, still soldiered on through the match as he jumped and flipped over the Patriot as went for a shoulder charge attack. After landing on his feet, Spidey found himself right behind the Patriot, and decided to take down the Thunderbolt down before he had attack again and thus ran towards him.    
  
As for the Patriot himself, he quickly spun around with the intent of firing a repulser blast at Spidey. But before he could even get a chance to hold up his right hand, the Web0Head figuratively beat him to the punch by throwing a right legged front kick into the Patriot’s chest plate, then used his left leg to jump and used that same leg to throw a round kick, nailing the Patriot in the head which didn’t knock him off his feet, but still knocked him loopy enough to make him wobble in a daze.    
  
Spidey himself managed to land safely on all fours and watched as the Patriot just barely managed to stop himself and shook his head. “Getting slow at your old age, Gobby!” the Web-Head quipped, then got back up and ran towards the Patriot, wound his fist back and went for a cross.    
  
However, the Patriot recovered just fast enough to see this attack coming and thus held up his right arm to block the punch. “You of all people should know that age doesn’t slow me down!” the Thunderbolt retorted, then attempted to fight back by throwing a left hook, to which Spidey avoided by ducking. The Patriot continued his assault by hold ups right fist over his head. “And the name…is the Iron Patriot!” With that declaration, the Patriot went for a hammer blow, hoping to knock the Web-Slinger out for good.    
  
Luckily for Spidey though, he noticed this and used his web-taped right hand to catch the Patriot’s armored fist just in time. Moments later, the Wall-Crawler fought back by jumping up and throwing a left uppercut, nailing the Patriot in the chin and making him stumble backward. While in the air, Spidey spun around and as he looked down at the dazed Patriot, pointed both of his hands at him, shot two web-lines, which ended up hitting the Thunderbolt’s shoulders, then zipped down towards him and planted both of his feet on his chest plate, bringing him down hard on to the steel floor. Remembering that his old enemy used the Uni-Beam in this position once before, Spidey quickly hopped off of him, then performed a corkscrew flip in mid-air and landed on the floor in a crouching position, where he waited for the Patriot to roll on his chest so he could look at him face to face. “You can call yourself Miss America for all I care,” said Spidey as a he gave him a death glare. “You’ll always be a heartless Goblin to me!”    
  
The Web-Head’s retort reminded him of a similar ‘quibble over definitions’ when he last fought him as the Green Goblin, to which he gave the young man this reply as he stared a hole right back at him. “Potato, potatoe,” he told the Web-Slinger, then willed himself back up to his feet. “But if there is one thing that I am above all else, I’m someone that if you chose to side with, I could’ve made you superior!” 


	10. Chapter 10

**BATTLE ROYALE: PT 2  
  
** Meanwhile, back in the Helocarrier’s training room, the battle between the Avengers and the new Thunderbolts continues to heat up. Especially in one particular battle with the Serpent Society, led by Madame Hydra, taking on the Avengers such as Black Panther, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, as well as Nick Fury and his fellow Secret Warriors, Misty Knight, Sharon Carter and Quake. And its here that Nick Fury once again showed his fighting prowess by blocking numerous punches from King Cobra. Finally, after holding up his left arm to block an incoming punch, Nick attempted to counter with a right uppercut.    
  
King Cobra, however, leaned back to avoid the blow and after popping out a taser from out of his right gauntlet, threw a low right hook into Nick’s side, ramming the taser into the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director’s ribs and electrocuted him. With Nick stunned, the former leader of the Serpent Society threw a left legged front kick into Nick’s chest, knocking him down to the floor, all which made the smug King Cobra smile as he looked down at him. “Getting slow, old man!” he said defiantly to the S.H.I.E.L.D. veteran, then popped out a taser in his left gauntlet, wound his left fist back and threw downward straight punch, with the intent of driving his second taser into Nick’s abdomen and torture him for his own amusement.    
  
However, Nick quickly rolled to the right side, which caused King Cobra to ram his fist into the floor instead, breaking his hand in the process. As King Cobra screamed and held his hand in agony, Nick stood back up, ran towards his pain ridden former attacker and threw a right legged round kick into King Cobra’s open mouth, knocking out few of his teeth and sending down to the floor outcold. “How’s that for speed, punk?” Nick told the unconscious Serpent Society member in defiance, then through the corner of his remaining eye, he noticed on his left side that the red skinned Rattler fired a bolt of electricity from out of his tail, which forced Nick to jump and roll forward to avoid it.    
  
Rattler himself hissed in frustration, then charged up his tail once again to fire another shot, with the kneeling Nick still in his sights.    
  
However, before Rattler could fire another bolt, he was stopped when Quake, another one of Nick’s best agents, pointed her open palms at Rattler’s feet and produced waves which in turn, shook the floor beneath him and brought him down to his knees.    
  
This in turn gave Nick the opportunity to run towards his red skinned attacker, jump up and deliver a double legged mule kick to Rattler’s face, knocking him down hard on to the floor. Nick then back-flipped in mid-air and landed safely right next to Quake. “Nice save, Johnson,” he told his fellow agent, then spotted Rattler get back up on his feet, and quickly got into a fighting stance. “I’m hoping you still got enough fight left in you.”    
  
The battled hardened Quake also got into a fighting stance, all the while channeling her energy into hands, making them glow blue. “I’m barely warmed up, sir.”    
  
“Good to know,” Nick replied as he stayed focused on Rattler, who then shot another bolt from his tail, forcing Nick to dash to the right, while Quake dashed to the left, allowing both agents to avoid the blast.    
  
Meanwhile, in another one on one bout, the Black Widow, Natasha Romanov, was trading blows with her former ‘comrade’, the Madame Hydra herself, Viper. At one point, Viper used her right hand to catch an incoming left back fist from Natasha, then fought back by throwing a swift left knife-edged chop underneath the Widow’s left arm and into her side. With the Widow stunned and bending down in pain, Viper pulled back that same hand and used it to throw a hard cross to Natasha’s face. Afterwards, she released her hold of the female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and allowed her to fall to the floor. “Such a shame,” said Viper as she looked down at Natasha with both disdain and disappointment. “You would’ve made a great agent for H.Y.D.R.A.,” From then on, Viper lifted her left leg up and went for an axe kick, looking to drive her heel into Natasha’s skull.    
  
However, thanks to her years of training, Natasha was able to anticipate this and thus held up both of her arms in an ‘X’ fashion and successfully blocked the axe kick. Moments later, she pushed Viper’s leg outward to the left, causing Viper herself to flip in a corkscrew motion to that side. Once she stood back up, Natasha saw Viper lander perfectly on her feet, and thus rushed in and feinted a right punch, which distracted the Madame Hydra long enough for Natasha to secretly throw a middle punch into Viper’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of the green haired fem fatale and making her take two steps backward. This gave the Black Widow the opening she needed to throw a right legged round kick and nail Viper in the head and sent her down too the floor. Now in control, Natasha had only this to say to the fallen Viper while still in her fighting stance. “Happy to disappoint you.”    
  
Elsewhere, the Black Panther found himself fighting for his life against the truly snake-like Bushmaster. The Wakandan King used his cat-like speed and agility to avoid slashes from the machete blades from Bushmaster’s cybernetic arms. After side stepped to the right to avoid a right overhead slash from the literal snake man, Panther finally went on the offensive by placing his right foot over the blade to prevent Bushmaster from pulling it back, then with the vibranium claws on his left hand, slash upward and in the process, sliced Bushmaster’s bladed arm off by the elbow.    
  
With his cybernetic arm chopped off and his circuitry exposed and sparking, Bushmaster hissed with rage as he used the blade on his left arm to throw a horizontal slash, intending on taking the Panther’s head clean off his shoulders.    
  
Luckily for the Panther though, he easily dodged the slash by ducking, and upon standing back up, he spotted Bushmaster going for another overhead slash, and thus used his left hand to catch the metal arm by the wrist, and used the claws in his right hand to slice downward, and just like before, cuts off his reptilian opponent’s arm by the elbow, leaving Bushmaster, for lack of better term, ‘unarmed.’ “It would be wise for you to surrender, creature,” said the determined Panther as he threw the arm away.    
  
Angrier than before, the now armless Bushmaster went to sink his teeth into the Panther’s neck and inject his venom into his body, like a true snake striking its prey.    
  
Fortunately for the Panther though, he easily avoided this attack by jumping and flipping over Bushmaster’s head. After safely landing on his feet, the Wakandan King spun around with his claws drawn and watched Bushmaster slither around and face him. All which caused the Panther to let out an unsurprised sigh. “Of course, how foolish of me. Your kind are never wise.”    
  
Meanwhile, another Avenger, Hawkeye, was busy jumping and flipping to avoid the rubbery arms of Anaconda. Finally, after flipping over Anaconda’s long right arm, the archer landed on his feet a drew one of his electric arrows, taking aim at his female attacker’s forehead. However, before he could take the shot, he noticed something that troubled him.    
  
Mainly it was two of his female comrades struggling against two members of the Serpent Society, with Misty Knight using her bionic right arm to deflect claw slashes from Death Adder, while Sharon was busy ducking and jumping to avoid the coils of the Constrictor.    
  
Though Hawkeye never showed it, he was still chivalrous enough to want to help Sharon and Misty, but at the same time, this left him wide open for Anaconda to successfully wrap her arm around the archer’s waist and squeeze him tightly as she lifted him up into the air, causing him to yell in pain.    
  
Anaconda herself just looked up at the struggling Hawkeye, licking her lips. “Such a shape that a handsome man like yourself to be my enemy. Of course, you could surrender and allow me to make you my personal toy. And thus, make your service to me worth your wild.”   
  
Feeling both the pain of the mutated woman’s arm squeezing his waist and inches away from snapping his spine, as well as the urge to vomit on her ‘offer’, Hawkeye nevertheless shook it off, and thanks to the luck of having his arms still free and holding his bow, he managed to pull out one of his arrows and point it at Anaconda’s face. “Sorry, you’re not my type. Don’t blame you for wanting me though,” Hawkeye said straining but with defiant sarcasm, and thus fired his arrow.   
  
However, Anaconda saw this and opened her mouth and caught the arrow with her teeth. The blonde female brute laughed at Hawkeye’s face for his supposed failed arrow shot, but soon received quite the surprise when the arrow he sprayed gas in her mouth and nose, causing her to cough and inadvertently drop Hawkeye and allow the archer to flip and land safely on his feet. It wasn’t long before Anaconda could feel the world around her spinning, and moments later, dropped to the floor unconscious.    
  
From then on, the now free Hawkeye drew another arrow, then turned to the right side and fired at his new intended target.    
  
That target being the coil in the Constrictor’s left hand, to which the purple suited villain had raised above his head. Once the arrowhead made contact with the coil, it set off a large flash that sparked into the Constrictor’s face, which blinded and disoriented him.    
  
This allowed Sarah to double click two secret buttons in her gloves, causing her hands to glow bright blue. She then ran in and gave the Constrictor a two-punch combination, name a left cross to his abdomen, followed by a right uppercut to his jaw.    
  
Elsewhere, a three on three battle was taking place amongst the team of Ms. Marvel, Luke Cage and Iron Fist and Tombstone, Silver Sable and Titania.    
  
Luke was throwing punches at Tombstone, who blocked them all effortlessly. Finally, after using both of his hands to catch the Hero for Hire’s right fist, Tombstone countered with a swift left back fist into Luke’s face, then delivered a stiff left side-kick into the Power Man’s sternum, one that was strong enough to send flying and slamming back first against the wall. Now in control, the former Big Man calmly walked towards Luke, who by this time was down on one knee and holding his chest in pain. “So, you are the so called ‘Hero for Hire,” said Tombstone with a look of disdain. “You’ve caused a few inconveniences for the people in my empire before. Something in which I cannot and will not tolerate.” The pale skinned former crime boss then wound his right fist back and threw a straight punch, aiming for Luke’s face.    
  
However, Luke managed to avoid it by ducking sideways to the right, causing Tombstone to ram his fist into the wall, making a huge dent. The Hero for Hire then fought back with a right hook into Tombstone’s side, and once the mobster winced and bent to the right side, Luke drove his left elbow upward, making a direct hit on the former Big Man’s chin, causing him to take two steps backward. “If by ‘trouble’ you mean being hired to beat up your brain-dead thugs for trying to hassle protection money from a few small business owners in Harlem, then yeah.” Luke replied, then stood up, walked over to the dazed Tombstone and gave him a right cross to the jaw. “And your sorry butt, I’ll gladly whoop for free!”    
  
Meanwhile, in another fight, Ms. Marvel blocked a right hook from Titania and responded with a left cross.    
  
Unfortunately, Titania spotted this attack coming and thus held up her left arm to block the punch, then retaliated with a left knee strike into Ms. Marvel’s abdomen, followed by a right uppercut to her face, which caused the Warbird to stand straight up, but make her stagger backward a bit. “Oh, come on!” Titania exclaimed, sounding disappointed. “Is this really all the great Ms. Marvel is cracked up to be? I’m insulted!” With that said, Titania threw a right legged round kick, intending to put this fight to an end.    
  
Luckily for Ms. Marvel though, she surprised her red-headed opponent by recovering fast enough see her attack and acted by using both of her hands to catch Titania’s leg, then threw her to the left side like she was nothing. As she watched Titania flip in mid-air and landed on her feet, the Warbird narrowed her eyes at her. “Don’t feel too insulted!”    
  
Titania only smirked, as she saw how Ms. Marvel might just be a challenge after all, then charged towards the Warbird.    
  
As for Ms. Marvel herself, she flew straight towards Titania at full speed, then moments later, both she and the villainess threw right hooks and their fists collided with one another, with the impact strong enough to make a loud bang.    
  
Meanwhile, Iron Fist found himself trading lighting fast punches and kicks with the platinum mercenary, Silver Sable. From his days in training in K’un Lun, Fist had long since learned that opponents come in all shapes, sizes, and genders and knew to never underestimate them. However, the Living Weapon still felt a little uneasy when he fought against female opponents. Nevertheless, she still kept his guard up against her, secretly impressed by how fast and precise Sable’s attacks were. Finally, knowing that that this fight had to stop to help his teammates, Fist held up his left arm to block an incoming left hook. “My apologies for this,” Fist said politely, then used his right leg to throw a inward crescent kick, intending to quickly knock her out.    
  
However, Sable easily spotted this and quickly ducked underneath the kick to avoid it. Upon standing back up, Sable spotted Fist going for a left spinning back-fist, which caused her to move her arms to the left side in order to stop the attack. Not wanting to be on the defensive forever, Sable waited for Fist to take his left hand away and go for a right legged spinning back-heel kick and ducked underneath it. As she stood up, Sable soon delivered a swift right upper cut to Fist’s chin, and while he was stunned, she threw a hard left legged front kick, nailing him in the chest and sending him tumbling backward.    
  
But before he could trip on his own feet, Fist was stopped when he felt like he bumped his back into that of another person. More specifically, with that of a woman. As he looked over his shoulder, Fist found out that he was standing back to back with Misty Knight, who also appeared to be having a little bit of trouble defending herself against Death Adder.    
  
Misty soon looked over her shoulder and saw that Fist was right behind her and was surprised. “Danny ?!” Misty asked dumbfounded. “Where the hell did you come from?!”    
  
“Oh, not far,” Fist replied nonchalantly, then looked over his shoulder to see Death Adder. “And apparently, you’re having just as much of hard time with your dancing partner as I am with mine.” With that said, Fist turned forward and saw that Sable was now running towards him, then jumped up and threw a right legged flying kick. “DUCK!” he yelled, and thus both he and Misty quickly ducked and allowed Sable to fly right over them and caused her to accidently kick Death Adder in the face instead.    
  
As both she and Fist stood back up, Misty saw Sable both baffled and angry on how the now unconscious Death Adder got in her way. Finally, as the platinum mercenary turned around, Misty moved in and threw a left hook, nailing Sable in the jaw and her down to the steel floor outcold. After dealing with Sable, Misty turned around and gave Fist a somewhat flirtatious raised eyebrow. “Well, I’ll give you this, Mr. Rand, you know how to make things exciting.”    
  
Fist couldn’t help but give Misty a returning smile. “What can I say? It’s part of my charm.”    
  
Misty gave Fist a sly smirk, but then looked ahead and noticed Nick Fury and Quake still struggling against Rattler. “Well, think you can use that charm in helping Fury deal that thing?”   
  
Fist turned around to see Nick and Quake fighting to stay alive against Rattler, and thus answered Misty while channeling his chi into both of his fists, causing them to burn. “Gladly,” Fist replied in determination, and thus he and Misty ran over to aid Nick and Quake in taking down laser tailed member of the Serpent Society.    
  
Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel now found herself on the defensive as she blocked numerous punches from the aggressive Titania. Afterwards, she threw a right uppercut to try and fight back.    
  
However, Titania saw this and leaned back to easily avoid it. “Okay,” she said in a calm but frustrated tone. “It’s been fun, but let’s wrap this up!” With that said, Titania went for a right legged front kick, with the target being Ms. Marvel’s abdomen.    
  
Ms. Marvel was just as fast to counter as she used both her hands to catch Titania’s foot before it could reach her gut. Then, with her Kree enhanced strength, she threw her red headed attacker’s foot up into the air, forcing Titania herself to flip backward. The Warbird brought the fight to an end by pointing her right fist at the airborne villainess, charged it up with energy and fired a blast at Titania while she was still airborne, making a direct hit on her chest and sending her flying across the room and slamming back first up against the wall. With her fist still smoking, Ms. Marvel looked at the defeated Titania as she slid down the wall and fell to the floor unconscious. “You need to consider a new line of work,” she told the now outcold villainess, then turned around to see if she can find another villain to take down and help bring this chaotic fight to an end. However, before the Warbird could make a move, she is stopped when she saw a disoriented Thor coming towards her after being thrown, and moments later, tackled her to the floor.    
  
Thor was a bit shaken, but he managed to sit up and shook his head to regain focus. However, he soon felt that he was sitting on someone, and as he looked down, he saw that it was Ms. Marvel groaning in pain, mostly from the Thunder God sitting on top of her. Which, of course, prompted the worried Thor to quickly get up off her, while still looking at her in worry. “Friend Carol, are you hurt?”    
  
“Just my pride,” replied a straining Ms. Marvel as she sat up, sore but with no bones broken.    
  
Nevertheless, Thor still offered his hand to help her up, as he would any other fellow warrior down on the ground. Once Ms. Marvel took it, the Thunder God used a small amount of his strength to pull her back up to her feet. “Well, be grateful that your body was not broken,” he told her. “For we may require your aid.”    
  
Before Ms. Marvel could answer Thor, her eyes grew wide as she saw Iron Man heading towards her, also appearing to have been thrown by something powerful. This caused her to push Thor to the right side so they could allow Iron Man to backflip and shoot both his repulsers backward, helping him stop. Afterwards, Ms. Marvel looked straight ahead and saw what just tossed Iron Man and Thor like they were rag dolls.    
  
It was that of the Red Hulk, who by this time was now literally burning with fire and growling angrily.    
  
All which made the now worried Ms. Marvel say this to Thor as she charged up both her fists. “Thor…there’s no ‘may’ about it!”    
  
In another part of the room, the clawed mutant that was Wolverine found himself in another brawl with his longtime foe, Sabretooth. The two mutants’ fight to the death was being watched by that of the human Bruce Banner, who was sitting and curled up into a corner.    
  
At one point, Sabretooth threw a left-handed claw slash, but Wolverine intercepted it by taking the claws in his right hand and plunged them right through Sabretooth’s open left palm, causing his blood thirst rival to let out a pain filled scream. Moments later, the feral X-Men turned and threw a left legged back kick into Sabretooth’s abdomen, causing him to back away and allow Wolverine to pull his claws out of his murderous opponent’s hand. Once the Clawed Canadian was face to face with the still wincing Sabretooth, he ran in and threw a right legged scissors kick, nailing Sabretooth in the face and causing his old rival to fall on his back. After taking a moment to retract his claws back into his hands, Wolverine turned and ran over to the still curled up Bruce. “Banner!” he yelled as he grabbed the frail scientist’s arms and picked him up off the floor and on to his feet. “In case you hadn’t noticed, this ain’t no spectator sport! So, if there’s a time for you get mad and bring out the big guy, it’s here and now!”    
  
“I’ve been trying!” Bruce replied, hating to say those words. What was even more troubling was the fact that he felt sluggish and had little to no energy, all which led him to this conclusion. “They must’ve drugged me just as they locked me up. I can barely focus on thinking of things that would trigger enough stress to-!” Suddenly, Bruce felt a sharp pain in his abdomen…like the feeling of very long blades piercing into him. As he looked up, he saw that it was Wolverine plunging the three claws in his right hand into the scientist’s gut.    
  
After committing such a drastic act, Wolverine pulled his claws out of the stunned scientist and backed away so he could allow the now critically injured Bruce place his hand over the stab wound and slump to the floor. “Ain’t nothing more stressful than that,” said Wolverine in self-loathing, as he hated to stab a defenseless man, but in Banner’s case, it was a last-ditch effort to help ‘motivate’ him into bringing out his bigger, more destructive half to help turn the tide. Moments later, the feral X-Man heard the loud, rage filled roar of Sabretooth, causing him to turn around and see his savage enemy running towards him and try to tackle him. Luckily, thanks to years of martial arts training, Wolverine used both of his hands to catch Sabretooth’s wrists, then placed his right foot on his rival’s abdomen, felt back and gave him a stomach throw.    
  
However, Sabretooth proved to be just as battle tested as he managed to roll forward end up back on his feet. He then spun around to face Wolverine, who by this time was also standing and popped the claws in his left hand and standing ready for another attack. Before he could make a move though, Sabretooth noticed the suffering Bruce Banner, something which made the sadistic mutant chuckle. “You stabbing an innocent man, runt? Gotta say, never knew you had it in ya.”    
  
“Shut up and fight, bub!” Wolverine barked back, then through the corner of his left eye, saw the still skinny and dying Bruce Banner, hoping that the wound he inflicted on the scientist was enough to start his transformation.  _“Come on, Banner,”_ thought the clearly worried Wolverine.  _“Don’t make me hate myself for nothin!”_ The feral X-Men then turned his attention back to Sabretooth, and both mutants let out roars as they ran and jumped towards one another.    
  
As for Bruce himself, as he bled out heavily and struggled to keep his entrails in his body, so many things were going through his mind. Confusion, shock, fear, not to mention the seething pain from his stab wound. All which was enough…to make his eyes glow green! 


	11. Chapter 11

**THE FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT, PT. 6  
  
** Just as his fellow Avengers were having problems in dealing with Zemo and his new Thunderbolts, Spidey was still trying to survive what could be the biggest fight of his life as he jumped and flipped to the right side to avoid a repulser blast from the Iron Patriot. After landing on his feet, Spidey decided it was time to fight back and thus held up his right hand and shot a web-line, intending to hit the Patriot’s faceplate and go for a web-zip attack.    
  
Unfortunately, the Patriot saw this and easily held up his right hand to catch the web-line before it could hit him. To make matters worse, he spotted Spidey using his left hand to shoot another line, and thus used his other hand to catch that line as well. Moments later, the Thunderbolt responded by yanking back on his end of the lines, pulling the Web-Head towards him.    
  
While flying towards the Patriot, Spidey saw his armored enemy holding up his right foot for the Web-Slinger to slam into. Naturally, this prompted Spidey to release his end of the lines and managed to save himself by darting both feet on the floor and perform a baseball slice. A tactic which paid off in another way, as he slid right underneath the Patriot’s right leg and ended up kneeling and turning to face the Thunderbolt’s back.    
  
The Patriot took a moment to charge up and fire two repulser blasts upward to destroy the webbing still stuck to his hands, then spun around and saw Spidey throwing a left uppercut, and thus leaned back to avoid it. He then spotted the Wall-Crawler throwing a web-fisted right hook and held up his right arm to easily block the punch. Moments later, the Patriot took his left hand, and with a least thirty percent of his strength, gave Spidey a palm strike to his heavily taped chest, sending the Web-Head flying a backward a few feet and landing hard on the steel floor. Now in control, the Patriot pointed his palms down and powered up both repulsers and jet boots to launch himself in the air and hover over the fallen Spidey, who by this time was clutching his chest in agony. “It always pains me to see such talent wasted,” said the Patriot, sounding disappointed. “Which is why I’m offering you one last chance. Stay down…and let me take you under my wing! Let me help you become a better, Superior Spider-Man!”    
  
Those three words, ‘under my wing’, were enough to stir an angry fire within Spidey, for he remembered how the Patriot took Harry, how own son, and made him a lab rat by making him bond with a symbiote and drove him over the edge. This anger and disdain for the enemy that he once respected was enough to motivate Spidey roll backward, then end up in a kneeling position and pushed himself back up on his feet, all while wincing as this action aggravated his chest wounded. Nevertheless, Spidey shook off the pain and looked up at the airborne Patriot as he told him this in defiance. “Sorry, but no. Aside from the butt load of pain in right now, I think I’m doing fine all things considered. Besides, I’ve learned a long time ago that nothing good comes from being working with you Osborn, lackey or otherwise.”    
  
Whether it was in a business suit while running Oscorp, in the grotesque costume of the Green Goblin, or in his armor leading the Thunderbolts, the Patriot never took kindly to being told no. As he showed by growling loudly, then pointed both of his hands down at the Web-Head and fired two repulser blasts.    
  
Naturally, Spidey jumped up to avoid the blasts, and while in mid-air, he used his left hand to shoot a web-line which ended up hitting and sticking to the Patriot’s chest plate. Moments later, he web-zipped over to him and made his move by spreading his legs up, then wrapped them around the Patriot’s neck and flipped back, which in turn caused the Patriot himself to flip forward and dive straight down into the steel floor with impact so hard, it made a large dent underneath him. As for Spidey, he managed to land safely on all fours, then stood up and turned to face the Patriot, who by this time was getting up and irritably ripping the webbing off his chest plate. Once his armored opponent was back on his feet, Spidey angrily narrowed his eyes at him. “I’ve also learned a long time ago that with great power comes great responsibility. And you’ve clearly haven’t been very responsible with all the power you’ve been given.” As he continued, the determined Web-Head got into a readied stance to continue the fight. “Which is why for everyone’s sake, I’m taking you down here and now!”    
  
The now enraged Patriot gave Spidey a death glare, furious as he refused his generous offer. “So disappointing. You could have been the son I’ve always wanted, as opposed to the weakling I have for a son right now!” With that said, the Patriot flew straight towards Spidey, intending to literally run him down.    
  
Fortunately, Spidey saved himself by jumping and flipping over the incoming Patriot, and in the process, used both of his feet to kick the back of the Thunderbolt’s head, causing him to tumble forward. As he landed, the Wall-Crawler spun around to face the fallen Patriot, angered with how he just referred to Harry not too long ago. “Ooohhh, just keeping talking, pal,” Spidey said with disdain, then as he watched the Patriot get back up, he pointed his right hand at a spot that was between him and his old foe, shot a web-line at it and slingshot himself towards the Thunderbolt, determined more than ever to bring this madness to an end. 


	12. Chapter 12

**BATTLE ROYALE: PART 3  
  
** Back in the Helocarrier, three of the Avengers’ powerhouses, Thor, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel, were all engaged with the Red Hulk. With Iron Man firing his repulsers, Thor shooting lighting from Mjolnir and Ms. Marvel firing her Kree blasts, all their combined powered was focused at the Crimson Monster to try and bring him down.    
  
However, despite the three Avengers best efforts, the Red Hulk still walked towards them with the blasts barely slowing him down. Then, remembering this moved that his enemy, the original Hulk, used on him and his army so many times before, he held out both of his hands and clapped them together, which created a massive shockwave that destroyed the blast and sent Iron Man and the others off their feet. The confident Red Hulk then chuckled at the tree fallen Avengers as he walked toward them. “I bet you wish you bleeding heart punks kept me around, huh?”    
  
A disoriented Iron Man was the first to sit up, and though his armor protected him, he still felt the ill effects of the shockwave. “Okay,” said the Shellhead with strain in his voice. “Definitely need that Hulkbuster right now.”    
  
The now smirking Red Hulk stopped when he reached Iron Man, then raised both of his fists over his head, ready to smash him through the floor. However, before he could even get the chance, he was stopped when he felt something strong wrap around and get a good grip around his mid-section from behind. Confused, the Red Hulk looked down and saw two, large green arms around his waist, and too his shock, he knew those arms all too well. As the Crimson Monster looked over his shoulder, he was surprised to see that the fully transformed, green and angry original Hulk was behind him, then leaned back and threw the Red Hulk backward and slammed him shoulder first on to the floor, making the Helocarrier shake in the process.    
  
Moments later, Hulk stood back up to face his red counterpart, who by this time shook his head to regain focus. “No, you don’t, Tin Man,” Hulk told Iron Man without turning to face him. “You need me!”    
  
As for the Red Hulk himself, he looked up see his sworn enemy standing before him, which caused him to literally burn with rage. “You…!” he growled, then got up and charged towards him.    
  
With a loud roar, Hulk ran towards the Red Hulk, intending to settle the score with him on how he aided the mind controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. in trapping him.    
  
Iron Man, along with Thor and Ms. Marvel, all stood up and were completely stunned in seeing the Hulk return and come to their rescue. That is until Iron Man himself decided to break the silence and say what all three of them were thinking. “Well, he’s not wrong.”    
  
Finally, once both giants got close enough, they both threw right hooks and when their fists collided, causing the Helocarrier to tremble once more. However, it is the Red Hulk who continued his assault by giving the Hulk a fierce left uppercut to his jaw, followed by a right hook.    
  
Despite taking two massive hits, all that was make the Hulk all the angrier. And once he spotted the Red Hulk going for a left hook, the Jade Giant held up his left arm to block the blow, then saw the Red Hulk quickly for a right and used his other hand to catch the fist. A split second later, the Green wound his head back an gave the Red Hulk a massive headbutt to his forehead, knocking him into a daze. The Hulk then took advantage of his foe’s disorientation by dashing forward and with all his gamma charged might, rammed his right shoulder into the Red Hulk’s chest, sending him flying and crashing through a steel wall and nearly ending up in the next room.    
  
Though the impact of the shoulder charge was enough to knock him loopy, the Red Hulk still was able to sit up and shake off the effects. He then looked straight ahead and gets the Hulk back in his sights, growling like the true monster that the once proud soldier, General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross, allowed himself to become. “Is that the best you can do?”    
  
The Hulk let out an annoyed grunt and was just about to answer the Red Hulk’s question by running over and pounding him into a paste.    
  
However, the Jade Giant stopped in his tracks when Iron Man suddenly flew in between them, held up his right hand and fired a small, coin shaped object from out of the top of his gauntlet, which ended up hitting and sticking the Red Hulk’s left shoulder.    
  
This left both Hulks dumbfounded, especially the Red one. “What in the…?” Suddenly, the Red Hulk’s confusion turned into shock when the silver disc suddenly started to flow like liquid from the Monster’s shoulder and spread throughout his entire body, sans his face, and froze his entire body in place, rendering him immobile. It was at that moment that the Red Hulk, much to his horror, figured out that the disc was made of the same self-replicating high density nanite compound that apprehended him before. “NOOOO!!!!” roared the red skinned giant, then suddenly, he shrank down and reverted to the elderly form of General Thunderbolt Ross.    
  
Both Iron Man and Hulk witnessed Ross’s regression, but though he was happy to see that the once respected soldier was out of the fight, the Shellhead could hear the heavy, angry breathing of the Hulk, knowing full well that the Green Goliath wanted to knock his lights out. Thus, he looked up to his giant teammate, with his faceplate hiding a nervous expression. “Sorry Hulk,” said Iron Man, trying to sound confident. “I know you can take Ross, but we need to wrap this up.”    
  
Nevertheless, the Hulk snorted irritably at the Armored Avenger. “Whatever.”    
  
As Ross struggled, in vain, to get fee, he looked up at Iron Man with his eyes wide open with rage. “STARK, YOU SPOILED, BLEEDING HEART TRAITOR!” he screamed out, then turned his attention back to the Hulk. “YOU THINK THAT THAT MONSTER IS A HERO! HE, LIKE YOU AND THE REST OF THE AVENGERS ARE A MENACE TO THIS COUNTRY! YOU ALL FORCED ME TO TURN MYSELF INTO A MONSTER! YOU SHOULD ALL BE-!” Suddenly, Ross’s rang was cut short when he, along with the silver liquid he was covered in, soon vanished out of sight, leaving both Iron Man and the Hulk dumbfounded.    
  
Moments later, many other villains, such as the Serpent Society, the Wrecking Crew, as well as villains like Sabretooth, and Silver Sable, all began to vanish one by one at incredible speed, causing much confusion to the rest of the Avengers.    
  
It wasn’t long until Zemo, who’s blade thrust was blocked by Cap’s shield, noticed Tombstone suddenly vanished while fighting Luke and was shocked instantly. “What?! What is happening?”   
  
With Zemo distracted, this left Cap with the opening he needed and delivered a stiff left jab to his old foe’s masked face, then followed through with a right legged round kick to his head, knocking him to the floor. As Zemo laid there dazed, Cap looked down on him and waited form hit shake his head and look up to him so he could tell him this. “You’re losing Zemo, like you have…and always will!”    
  
Those words from the Sentinel of Liberty were enough to send Zemo into a rage. “NO, NOT THIS TIME!” he yelled, taking his sword. “I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY-!” Just like the rest of his new Thunderbolts, Zemo too vanished out of thin air.    
  
For Cap and the Avengers, while this was obviously a victory, how Zemo and the new Thunderbolts disappeared still left them stunned.    
  
Suddenly, the caused of the villains’ disappearance revealed itself to be Hank Pym, who, along with the Wasp, grew back to human size, with Hank still holding his shrinking gun in his right hand. The size changing scientist then looked at a small screen located on the back of his gun and saw an image of Zemo and the villains in specially made cells inside the gun. “It’s all right, the villains are taken care of,” said Hank, who then looked up at Cap and the rest of his approaching teammates, all looking at him with cynicism, thus forcing him to reintegrate while holding his hands up in a passive manner. “And by that, I mean that The Thunderbolts are safely secured inside my gun, where they’ll stay until we wrap up this whole mess.”    
  
Wasp could see that Iron Man and the rest of her teammates looked at Hank just with cynicism in their eyes, and she couldn’t blame them, not knowing if this was still ‘Yellowjacket’, and he’s putting up an act to gain their trust. But knowing that there was still the matter of the freed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, as well as Spidey’s fight with the Patriot, she decided to walked over to her fellow Avengers and confirm what Hank said to keep them focused.  “He’s telling the truth guys,” she reassured them. “I saw the whole thing.”    
  
Iron Man was still just as skeptic as his teammates regarding if this was the old Hank Pym he once knew and valued as a friend. However, he also knew that Wasp always had good instincts when it came to Hank, be it the peaceful scientist or the violent, arrogant vigilante. Either way, the Shellhead knew that this was not the time or place to truly find out. “Well, if you can vouch for him, Jan, then it’s good enough for me…for now anyway.” Iron Man then turned his attention over to Cap. “Besides, we’ve got bigger problems.”    
  
“Agreed,” replied the determined Cap, then turned to the rest of the comrades to address them. “Avengers, to the bridge! Now!” 


	13. Chapter 13

**THE FINALS: SPIDER-MAN VS. IRON PATRIOT, PT.7  
  
** Battered, bruised and hurting more than he had ever been in the past, Spidey pressed on in his fight against the Patriot, much to the Roman crowd’s delight. At one point, the Web-Head threw a right uppercut, only for the Patriot to lean back and successfully dodge it. But even with that attack avoided, Spidey was just as nimble as he spotted the Patriot going for a left hook, which prompted the Web-Head to duck and narrowly avoid getting his head knocked off his shoulders. As he stood back up, Spidey is alerted by his spider-sense and anticipated the Patriot holding up his right palm, which he charged to fire a repulser blast into the Web-Slinger’s chest. As such, Spidey acted by using his right hand to grab the Patriot’s wrist and hold it upward, forcing his armored opponent to fire the blast in that direction instead. This left the Web-Head the opportunity needed to take his taped left fist and throw a stiff middle punch into the dent in the Patriot’s abdomen, causing the Thunderbolt to let out a pain-filled groan and bend over.   
  
This provided the Wall-Crawler the opening he needed to jump and perform a flip-kick, nailing the Patriot in the chin and making him stagger aimlessly backward. While in mid-air, Spidey continued his attack by pointing both of his hands down, shot two web-lines that hit the dazed Patriot’s shoulders and zipped towards him, with the plan to give him a head scissors take down.   
  
Unfortunately, just as the Wall-Crawler wrapped his legs around the Patriot’s shoulders, the Thunderbolt quickly countered by wrapping his arms underneath Spidey’s waist and drove the Web-Slinger down spine first into the steel floor.   
  
As for Spidey, he groaned in agony was as his back took more abuse. However, he was brought out of his misery thanks to feeling his spider-sense, which prompted him to quickly roll to the left side and avoid the Patriot’s right foot before it could stomp into the young hero’s chest and ended up going through the floor instead. After rolling a least five feet away from the Patriot and ending up on his stomach, the pain ridden Spidey willed himself back up to his feet, while at the same time, placed both of his hands on his lower back and leaned all the way back, which resulted in a few loud pops to be heard and the Web-Head grunting and wincing as a result. “Yep, DEFINITELY going to be sore in the morning.”   
  
The now seething Patriot pulled his foot from out of the floor when he heard Spidey’s words, then turned and narrowed his eyes at him. “Oh, you’re going to feel WORSE than that,” he said bitterly, then powered on his jet boots and sped towards the Wall-Crawler, with the intent to ram his shoulder into the Wall-Crawler and run him down.   
  
Luckily though, Spidey’s life was once again saved by feeling the tingling of his spider-sense, thus side stepped to the right and avoided the Patriot’s charge.   
  
However, the Patriot managed to stop himself from tumbling over, then spun around and to face Spidey again, then dashed towards him and threw a right hook.   
  
Fortunately for Spidey, he had this attack well scouted and quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding the blow. Once he stood back up, the Web-Head responded by throwing a left legged front kick into the Patriot’s dented abdomen once again, and once the Thunderbolt was in a bent position, he immediately threw a right legged round kick, aiming for the Patriot’s helmeted head.   
  
The Patriot, on the other hand, surprised the Web-Head by holding both arms to the right side to not only block the kick, but also grab his entire leg. Afterwards, he spun him around and threw him a few feet away like he was nothing.  
  
While in the air, Spidey managed to look over his shoulder and could see that he was about to hit the forcefield that was protecting the audience from the action. As such, to save himself from such hard impact, as well as getting electrocuted, Spidey pointed both of his hands down, shot two web-lines at the steel floor and zipped downward, where he made a perfect landing on all fours, albeit aggravating his still present injuries and thus causing him more physical turmoil. So much so, that it was enough to almost make him black out, and he just barely shook his head to stay conscious at the last second. “Come on, Spidey,” he thought to himself. “Don’t even think of passing out now! Everyone is still depending on you to win this!” Suddenly, Spidey is brought out of his self pep-talk when he felt his spider-sense return, and thus forcing him to look up.   
  
It was that of the now airborne Patriot, who by this time pointed both of his open almost down at Spidey and fired two repulser blasts, all which prompted the Wall-Crawler to jump and flip backward to avoid them.   
  
Meanwhile, back on the bridge of the Helocarrier, Maria Hill, along with the rest of the agents, were beginning to stir, albeit still dazed and confused. “What…?” asked the stunned Maria, then mere seconds later, her stern and less than pleased demeanor returned. “Somebody better tell me what the hell just happened in ten seconds, or I’ll fire the first son of a-!”   
  
Suddenly, it was Iron Man who answered her when he, along with the rest of the Avengers, all barged into the bridge. “Oh, not much,” Iron Man said nonchalantly. “Just us coming in to save your backside, as well as those of everyone here in S.H.I.E.L.D. The usual.”   
  
The sight of Iron Man did not sit well with Maria, and thus made her instantly draw her side pistol and point it at him. “Agents draw your arms,” she ordered, which resulted in the rest of the agents that were standing back to draw their guns at Iron Man and the rest of the Avengers. “Stark, if you have any part of this-!”   
  
It was here that Nick Fury made his surprise entrance and held up his hands to get the agents’ attention. “Stand down,” he yelled loudly, surprising the agents, but none more than Maria herself, who had not seen him in so long. The former S.H.I.E.L.D. director turned his attention to the still flabbergasted Maria herself. “Cool your jets, Hill. Stark isn’t the enemy here.”   
  
“Director Fury?” Maria asked in disbelief, then shook her head and obeyed her superior by putting away her gun, so she could at least get some info on the current situation. “Agents stand down!” she ordered, and as the rest of the agents followed suit by putting their guns away, she looked at Nick himself. “But sir, what exactly is going on here?”   
  
Nick normally would answer Maria but could see that Iron Man was walking over to the control board of the commander’s station and had to see what he was planning to do to stop the madness that Osborn brought S.H.I.E.L.D into. As such, he quickly turned to Sharon and appoint her as the person to give Maria an explanation. “Carter, fill her in,” he told the blonde agent, then followed Iron Man to the station where he once took command. “Stark, whatever you got to do to stop this, do it now!”   
  
“I’d love to, Fury,” Iron Man replied as he looked at the screen and watched the final CoC match, growing worried for Spidey as he leapt to the right to avoid another one of the Patriot’s repulser blast. “But right now, that’s up to someone else.” With that said, the Shellhead went on to the one team member who could possibly put an end to the tournament and Osborn’s scheme…one who was literally and figuratively working on the inside. “Vision, the forcefield that surrounds the Colosseum, can you shut it down?”   
  
Suddenly, the digitized head of the Vision appeared on the large screen, surprising the newly freed agents. However, he appeared to have a disappointed expression. “I’m afraid that is proving to be quite difficult,” the Vision head told Iron Man, then shrank itself and ended up on the left bottom corner of the screen, all to show the forcefield surrounding the Colosseum. “It would appear that Norman Osborn himself has keyed in a new passcode from his Iron Patriot armor. One that I am enable to encrypt and shut down the forcefield.”   
  
This answer caused Iron Man to let out an aggravated sigh. “Great, no doubt Norman did this to show the whole world who’s the top dog by making an example out of whoever he faced in the final match.” With that said, Iron Man held up his right index finger, and with a mental command, a small, drive like device popped out of the tip, and drove it into the panel’s drive slot. “J.A.R.V.I.S., linked into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s databanks and see if you can lend Vision a hand, Gigabyte style.”   
  
“At once, sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S., then loaded his program on the right side of the screen, which had the image of a glowing green circle, and thus aided Vision in cracking the Patriot’s code to bring down the forcefield surrounding the entire ancient amphitheater.   
  
With both J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision hard at work in trying to shut down the forcefield, the rest of the Avengers continued to watch match with great concern out of Spidey. Especially Wasp, who was even more worried as she watched him jump and flip backward to avoid getting pummeled the Patriot, who ended up punching the floor instead. “So now what?” asked the distressed Wasp. “We just stand here and watch Peter fight for his life? There’s no other way we can help him?”   
  
It was here that Cap answered the Wasp as he continued to focus on watching the match. “For now, there’s only one thing we can do to help him, Jan,” said the Super Soldier in a serious but calm tone for the sake of keeping morale within his team and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the bridge. “We believe in him.”   
  
Meanwhile, back in Rome, Spidey was still on the defensive in using his speed, reflexes and spider-sense to duck and dodge every one of the Patriot’s punches. Finally after holding up his left arm to block an incoming hook, the Web-Head’s spider-sense tingled and alerted him to the Patriot about to use his right leg to throw a front kick, all which prompted Spidey to use his leg foot to kick the Patriot’s armored left shin, and thanks to both his spider strength and the webbing around his foot, it was strong enough to make the Thunderbolt go down on that knee. Now with the upper hand, Spidey clinched his right fist and went to nail the Patriot with a right hook, hoping that it would be strong enough to knock the faceplate off his helmet and leave his face exposed.   
  
Unfortunately, the Patriot spotted this and responded by holding up his right arm to block the punch, and with his left hand, reached up and grabbed Spidey’s entire head, then proceeded to bury his armored fingertips into the Wall-Crawler’s skull as he slowly stood back up.   
  
Spidey screamed in agony as he felt his skull slowly crack in the Patriot’s literal iron grip, and while the Thunderbolt hand covered the Web-Head’s left eye, his right eye was not, and he noticed the Patriot’s still visible dent in his abdomen. Now reminded of his enemy’s weak spot, the Wall-Crawler made a desperate move as he used his left leg to throw a right legged front kick, hitting the dent in succession.   
  
This move appeared to have paid off, for it hurts the Patriot enough to make him stumble backward. However, as he did this, the Thunderbolt was still holding on to Spidey’s mask, and as he backed away, he inadvertently ripped off the left eye piece of the mask, revealing the Wall-Crawler’s heavily swollen left eye.   
  
As Spidey rubbed his head in a vain attempt to quell his now pounding migraine, he was shocked when he felt his left eye piece now missing, and thus looked straight ahead to see that the Patriot was now holding it in his left hand, as well as having his right hand over his abdomen. “It’s a good thing you’re rich, Osborn,” said the agitated the Wall-Crawler, pointing his right finger at his armored foe. “Because you owe me a new mask!”   
  
Needless to say, both Spidey’s remark and how the now ‘one eyed’ teen escaped from his hold had the Patriot seething. “I…owe you…NOTHING!” he roared, then threw the eyepiece down and rocketed towards the Web-Slinger in pure fury.   
  
Fortunately for Spidey, he managed to jump and flipped over the charging Patriot just in time, and as he landed, he turned around and saw that the Patriot had spun around and fired a repulser from out of his right hand, which forced the Wall-Crawler to lean back sideways to the left in order to avoid it. While leaning, Spidey pointed his left hand at the Patriot and shot a web-line which made a direct hit on the Patriot’s left shoulder, then zipped towards his opponent and threw a left legged flying kick.  
  
However, the Patriot proved to be just as quick and leaned back sideways to the right to dodge the kick and allowed Spidey himself to pass by him.   
  
Though Spidey landed safely on his both of his feet, he instinctively turned around and saw the Patriot coming towards him and throwing a right hook. Naturally, Spidey ducked to avoid the punch, and se he popped up, he spotted the Thunderbolts’ leader go for a left cross, and thus used his left arm to block the punch. Afterwards, the Web-Head responded with a right uppercut to his armored enemy’s chin, one which was strong enough to make a visible dint in the low right corner of his faceplate.   
  
Meanwhile, the match that was broadcasted worldwide was being shown to the people of New York Time Square, with the Avengers fans rooting for Spidey and the Thunderbolt fans rallying being the Patriot. But none were more invested in the match than Gwen Stacy, who was now practically glued to the television monitor of the police resting area and grew more and more scared for the Web-Head’s safety as he ducked to narrowly avoid getting his head taken off from the frustrated Patriot’s right cross. For Gwen, having Peter break things off with her was one thing, but to see him injured and putting himself in further harm against the psychopath that was Harry’s father caused her to be on edge.   
  
Elsewhere in New York, more specifically, Nick Fury’s safehouse, Beast watched the match via the large screen, all with great concern a he watched Spidey hold up both of his hands in an ‘X’ fashion and threw downward to block the Patriot’s incoming left legged front kick.   
  
However, unbeknownst to the furry X-Man, he was about to receive quite the shock…as May Parker had just woken up from her coma and was now walking around, albeit still a bit groggy. Finally, as she made her way to the screen, she briefly turned and saw Beast, shocking her enough to let out a loud scream.   
  
Naturally, hearing May’s scream was enough to startle Beast and make him turn to see the terrified woman and was shocked to see her fully conscious. “M-Mrs. Parker!” said the flabbergasted X-Man as he watched her back into a nearby table, then quickly held up his hands in a peaceful manner to try and calm her down and assure her that he’s not a dangerous monster, as he’s often confused for given his appearance. “Please, calm down,” he told her gently. “I know I may not look it, but I assure you, that I won’t harm you. In fact, you’re in very safe place.”   
  
May was in complete bewilderment that a creature of Beast’s stature would sound so intelligent and well spoken. In fact, it was that same sophisticated voice that she vaguely remembered hearing while in her unconscious state, and therefore just assumed that he was one of the doctors at her nearby hospital. Finally, after a few moments of pure fear induced silence, the petrified May finally tried to speak to the X-Man standing before her. “S-Safe place? W-Well, if this isn’t the hospital, then where am I?”  
  
Glad to see that he had May’s attention, as well as happy that he didn’t give the poor woman a stroke, Beast gave a small smile as he went on to explain, all while keeping his distance so as not to scare her even more. “Well madam, you are currently in safehouse that’s-“   
  
May didn’t listen to Beast’s explanation, for through the corner of her left eye, she spotted the screen that was showed the tournament, and more importantly, saw Spidey receiver a fierce right backfist to his masked face by the Patriot. All which made her run to the screen with fear and concern in her face. “PETER!”   
  
Needless to say, hearing May call her masked nephew by his real name left Beast in disbelief. _“She knows?!”  
  
_ Back in Rome, Spidey was on the ground, shaking off the effects of the backfist when he noticed that he was underneath a shadow. As he looked up, he saw that the shadow belonged to that of the Patriot, who at this point wound up his left fist and tried to punch Spidey for a knockout blow, all which caused the Web-Head to roll underneath the Patriot’s right side in order to avoid the punch and make the Thunderbolt ram his fist through the steel floor instead. Once he ended up in a kneeling position and right behind the Patriot, Spidey quickly stood up, turned around and saw the now frustrated Patriot himself yank his fist from out of the floor. Not wanting to give him a chance to attack, the Web-Head pointed his left hand at him and shot a web-line, with the plan to zip towards him and kick him in the back of the head.   
  
The Patriot, on the other hand, looked over his shoulder to see the web-line, and thus spun around and used his right hand to catch the line before it could touch him. A split second later, the Patriot pulled Spidey towards him, and wound up his left fist to give him a hard cross once the Web-Slinger got close enough.   
  
Though his initial attack was turned against him, Spidey still didn’t let this mishap stop him. And once he was close enough, the nimble Web-Head threw a right legged round kick to swat the Patriot’s left fist away, then while in mid-air, turned and used his other leg to throw a spinning backheel kick, nailing the Patriot in the head so hard, it actually knocked off his faceplate, and thus reveal the face of Norman Osborn. After safely landing on all fours in a crouching position, Spidey looked up to see the now unmasked and disoriented Norman stagger aimlessly backward, and with his enemy’s face now exposed, saw this as the opening he needed and thus got up and rushed towards the Thunderbolt and throw a right cross.   
  
Despite having his armor severely damaged and now without the protection of his faceplate, Norman still had the ‘Greene’ flowing through his veins, which helped recover quickly enough to see Spidey throwing a right cross and thus used his right hand to catch the Web-Head’s fist. Once he saw Spidey with his own two eyes instead of through his eye lenses, Norman felt sheer humiliation as to how the Wall-Crawler last attack took away his face plate, and in pure spite, began to crush his hand, causing enough pain to Spidey to bring him down to his knees. Moments later, the angry Norman then picked Spidey up by his right hand, and after placing his other hand on his young opponent’s left thigh, he powered up his jet boots, rocketed forward and rammed Spidey up against the forcefield, electrocuting the Web-Slinger and making him scream in pain.   
  
This heinous act was seen back in Time Square, where it shocked the spectators watching on the big screen, but also terrified Gwen in seeing the boy she loved get tortured in such a way. “NO!”   
  
Elsewhere, inside Nick Fury’s safehouse, May was just as frightened in seeing her nephew being shocked. “PETER!”   
  
Back in the match, after shocking the Web-Head for a good long minute, Norman pulled Spidey away from the forcefield, then lifted him up over his head and threw him five feet away, where Spidey eventually landed hard on his chest, his body in pure agony and his back still smoking. Now in control, Norman than walked over to the fallen Spidey.   
  
After suffering every punch, blast, and finally having large amounts of electricity surge though his body, Spidey barely had enough energy to even sit up. In fact, he could only barely lift his head up and see Norman walk up and stand over him, crossing his arms and looking down at him with contempt. From here, he felt that Norman was the true last man standing, the man who beat him. And as such, he allowed his face to drop to the floor, sadly accepting defeat.   
  
High above the fight, the announcer saw Spidey down on the floor, and thus began the countdown. “One…Two…Three…”   
  
For Norman, he found the countdown to be a sign that this long day was coming to an end and victory was close at hand. He also looked down downed Spidey with a look of somewhat disappointment. _“Oh, you could’ve been so much more had you taken my offer, Mr. Parker,”_ he thought. _“I suppose I’ll just have Warren have his fun with you in this ‘cloning project’ he spoke of to create new soldiers for S.H.I.E.L.D. But first, you’ll just have to serve as an example to what will happen to those who stand in my way in creating a newer, better world!”_  
  
As for Spidey himself, he just laid face down on the floor in shame, feeling hopeless and depressed on how he let himself get defeated Osborn, and more importantly how he let the Avengers, his friends and family down. _“Face Parker, you blew it big time,”_ thought the sorrowful Wall-Crawler, waiting for the countdown to be over. _“Gwen…Aunt May…I’m so sorry.”_ While waiting for the countdown to end, Spidey’s depression is soon turned to confusion when he heard the people chanting …  
  
“Spider, Spider, Spider, Spider, Spider….!”   
  
The chanting came from the Roman spectators, more specifically, the Avengers fans, all of whom watch the Wall-Crawler fought with not just great skill, but with such determination and strength and began their enthusiastic chanting in hopes that it would give him the will power to get back up.   
  
Back in New York, the Avengers’ fans in Madison Square Garden also had a chant of their own…  
  
“Spidey, Spidey, Spidey, Spidey, Spidey…!”   
  
That same ‘Spidey’ chant was going around in Time Square, much to the surprise of some of the NYPD, as well as the delight of Captain George Stacy, who was glad to see that the people of New York finally saw Spidey as the hero he truly was.   
  
A pleasantly surprised Gwen also heard the chanting from the police rest area and took a moment to look around the supportive crowd for confirmation. Just like her father, she was happy to see the people get behind Spidey as oppose to believing the trash that Jameson wrote about him in the Daily Bugle. Moments later, she quickly turned back the screen, with her worrying returning upon seeing Spidey still down on the floor. _“Come on, Peter,”_ she thought. _“You can’t let Osborn win! Especially since you have people that believe in you…just like I do! Get up!”_  
  
Meanwhile, in the Daily Bugle, both Jonah and Robbie were watching the match and heard the ‘Spider’ chants on TV, and more importantly, hearing the ‘Spidey’ chants outside the building and into the streets. Something that caused the irritable Jonah to let out a disgusted grunt. “Just perfect,” Jonah said annoyed. “Not only did that Wall-Crawling creep dupe some of the people in this town, but overseas too!”   
  
Robbie ignored Jonah’s spiteful words, and instead concentrated on the screen and silently rooted for Spidey to get back up on his feet.   
  
Back in Rome, the chanting was starting louder and louder, and began stir something within the surprised Spidey. As he looked around the Roman fans cheering for him, he noticed two people that caught his attention the most.   
  
The first was that of a blonde-haired teenaged girl around his age, one that struck a sounding resemblance to Gwen, the girl that he had to let go for the sake of her safety…but still loved dearly. So much so, his mind was filled with memories of the good times he and Gwen shared, from working on school projects together, to hanging out at the coffee shop, and finally, that fateful Thanksgiving Day when she kissed him.   
  
And the other was that of a woman in her fifties with a child that appeared to be her grandson…and she reminded him of his Aunt May, the woman who took the place of his deceased mother in raising him and loving him in every step of the way.   
  
The memoires of the two women that Spidey loved the most was more than enough motivation for him to shake off the pain, as well as give him the willpower needed to get back into the fight. _“Well, life sure has a funny way of telling you not give up!”_ thought the Web-Head as he placed both of his hands and on the floor and literally pushed himself up off the floor and sit up _. “But I get it! I can’t let Gwen, Aunt May, or anyone else who believe in me down! For everyone’s sake, I’m stopping Osborn! Right here, right now!”_ As the Wall-Crawler began to slowly get up, the announcer quickly stopped the countdown, and sure enough, some of the Thunderbolts fans in the crowd soon began to become impressed with the Web-Head’s determination and soon joined in the ‘Spider’ chants.   
  
This in turn left Norman completely dumbfounded and looked around the chanting crowd in pure bewilderment, as he could not believe how the people easily jumped to the fallen Web-Head’s side. Suddenly, through the corner of his left eye, Norman spotted the recovering, but still somewhat groggy Spidey was now back on his knees. As such, he placed his confusion aside and concentrate on winning the match, and thus through a downward left hook to knock Spidey out for good.   
  
Fortunately, Spidey was brought out of dazed thanks to the tingling of his spider-sense, and thus used his left hand to quickly catch the fist. Afterwards, he looked back up at Norman, who then nervously pulled his right fist and desperately threw another hook. With anger in his good eye, Spidey easily caught the incoming fist with his other hand, and with his spider-strength, began to crush the gauntlets and caused them to short out, which resulted in the crowd to cheer louder. With fan support, as well as the need to save his loved ones and people around the world from the stunned Norman and his thugs, Spidey now had renewed vigor, which he used to jump up and deliver a flip kick to Norman’s chin, which knocked him loopy enough to make him stagger backward. Upon landing on his feet, the re-energized Spidey towards the disoriented Norman, then jumped up and throw a left legged round kick.   
  
Despite taking such a hit, Norman saw the Web-Head’s kick and quickly ducked to avoid it. Once he stood back up, he allowed the Web-Head to land on his feet and turn to face him, all so he could hold up his open palms and try to fire two repulser blast. However, as he made the mental command, he was shocked to see that neither of his gauntlets fired, no doubt the result of Spidey squeezing them earlier. As a result, Norman made another desperate move by throwing a right legged front kick, and in the process, power on the boots jets as an improvised way of blasting the Web-Slinger.   
  
However, Spidey easily anticipated this move and easily used both hands to catch the foot before it could reach his chest. Having had enough of Norman’s demented tournament, which resulted in the imprisonment of the Avengers, the insanity of his best friend, the sickness of his aunt, and the loss of the girl he loved, the Web-Head was now more determined than ever to end this madness, first by squeezing his boot, and just like he did to his gauntlets, made it short out. Then, while keeping a firm grip on his old enemy’s foot, Spidey angrily spun Norman around, then threw him six feet away.   
  
Though he landed hard on the floor spine first, the armor still protected Norman from the impact well enough to allow him to roll on his back and on to his feet. From here, he made a mental command for his jet boots to power up in ditch effort to hover in the air and have a high ground advantage. However, much to his shock and horror, the jets in his right boot failed to power up, as the Wall-Crawler’s firm grip made it useless. And while his left boots were working, they barely got only a few inches off the floor. All which left Norman in complete, and almost crazed bewilderment. “No! Not like this,” screamed the wide eyed and delirious Norman, who was so far gone mentally, he spewed salvia out of his mouth as the more he shouted. “It can’t end like this! My plans are too perfect for me to lose now! I can’t lose! It can’t end this way! It can’t-!” Suddenly, Norman’s crazed tirade was put to a halt when a small ball of web covered his mouth, followed by a web-line stick to his chest plate.   
  
Sure enough, a clearly fed up Spidey was revealed to be the shooter of those webs, all while holding on the web-line with his left hand. “Gobby, it can…” the Web-Head then used his right hand to shoot another line, which also made its mark on Norman’s chest plate. “AND IT WILL!!!!” With that said, Spidey yanked hard on his end of the lines and pulled Norman straight towards him. From there, the Web-Head jumped up and gave Norman a hard right uppercut to his jaw, which was strong enough to send him up into the air with him. From there, the airborne Spidey spun around, curled both knees into his chest and delivered a doubled legged mule kick, nailing the white star on Norman’s chest plate and with enough force that sent Norman Osborn, a man who terrorized New York as the Green Goblin, then led a team a villains masquerading as heroes as the Iron Patriot, flying backward and slamming his back up against the forcefield, electrocuting him in the process, with his screams muffled by the webbing over his mouth.   
  
So much electricity surged through the armor, that it began to short out the circuitry and caused the Iron Patriot suit to burst into pieces, which revealed Norman wearing a black jumpsuit underneath as he felt chest first on to the floor in a complete daze, as well as the webbing over his mouth to fall apart upon impact.   
  
As for Spidey himself, he performed a back-flip after delivering the mule kick and landed on his feet, but briefly struggled to maintain balance. He could feel the adrenaline already wearing off and both pain and fatigue return to plague his body once more. So much so, he could feel his legs get wobbly and concentrated all his energy into just standing up. _“Come on, body!”_ thought the exhausted Web-Head. _“If you can hold together while I lift up tons of steel and save Gwen from a sinking underground lair, you can hang in there for ten seconds and help me put Osborn away!”  
  
_ High above the match, the announcer saw that Osborn was down, and soon began the countdown. “One...!”   
  
All in which caused the Roman crowd to join in. “Two...!”   
  
Spidey could see that Norman was moving and knowing how unpredictable he was with that Greene still in his system, he winced as he got into a readied stance and quietly counted down with the crowd. “Three...”  
  
Back in the states, the countdown continued in New York, from the spectators in Madison Square Garden. “Four...!”   
  
To the people watching in Time Square. “Five…!”   
  
Including a heavily invested Gwen, who was glued to the monitor and ecstatic to see Spidey standing and Norman down. “Six...!”   
  
Over in Nick Fury’s safehouse, the two remaining occupants watch the match intensely. From the furry X-Man Beast. “Seven...!”   
  
To the worrisome May Parker. “Eight...!”   
  
And finally, everyone on the bridge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrior, from the freed agents, to the Avengers and Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors. “Nine...!”   
  
Back in the Coliseum, Norman looked like he was about to push himself back up, which startled Spidey and caused him to stand ready. But seconds later, Norman just felt light headed which caused his eyes to roll to the back of his head as he finally passed out.   
  
All which allowed the announcer and the Roman crowd to yell the one number everyone wanted to hear. “TEN!!!”   
  
At that moment, the buzzer sounded all over the arena, which resulted in the crowd to cheer in celebration and the tired Spidey to drop to his knees in relief and smile in happiness. “Finally…it’s over!”   
  
This in turned caused the announcer to mentally command the Ref Bot to hover down to the kneeling Spidey, and upon arrival, popped out its metal arm to grab Spidey’s left arm and gently raise it in victor. “Ladies and gentlemen,” said the announcer with his grinning face appearing on the screen. “Here is your winner, and champion….THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN!!!”   
  
This announcement only caused the crowd in the Coliseum to roar with jubilation as the Wall-Crawler was declared the winner of not just this brutal match, but this whole tournament.   
  
And such happiness didn’t stop at Rome, viewers all over the world, or at least the Avengers fans, all roared with applause. Especially back in the states, where the people in New York Times Square were all cheering in celebration like it was New Year’s Eve. And as George and his team tried to keep the masses under control, Gwen was also cheering loudly and happily, all while crying tears of joy in seeing Spidey finally defeated Norman. _“Thank God!”_ she thought as tears of happiness streamed down her cheeks, then she gently placed her hands on the screen, more specifically, on the spot where Spidey was standing. _“Now get your but back here, Peter Parker. Because like it or not, I’m not finished with you!”  
  
_ Back in the safehouse, May was beyond ecstatic in seeing her nephew succeed, as she showed by hugging Beast tightly and jumping up and down! “He did it! He did it! My Peter did it!”   
  
“Indeed!” replied a smiling Beast as he gently patted May’s back. He then looked back on the screen to see the tired and injured Spidey be helped up to his feet. And though he was still worried about his aggravated injuries, he was proud of the young man for being able to bring this insanity to an end.   
  
Not everyone shared in the happiness of seeing Spidey win the tournament though. For back in the Daily Bugle, Jonah was seen, as well as heard, ranting and raving about what he saw happened. “SHENANIGANS!” Jonah roared as he stomped out of his office with his face red with rage. At one point, Jonah turned his attention to his new secretary, Irene Merryweather, and pointed his finger at her. “MERRY WEATHER! YOU HAVE TWO POINT THREE SECONDS TO GET ME ON THE PHONE WITH SOMEBODY WHO WORKS FOR THE DAMN GARDEN! THE WEB-HEAD NEEDS TO BE DRUG TESTED! HE MUST HAVE TAKEN SOME…SUPER STEROIDS OR WHAT TO BE ABLE TO BEAT THE PATRIOT! HE HAD TO!”   
  
During Jonah’s verbal rampage, a very fearful Hottman sneaked right past his irate boss and made his way to Robbie, who was standing by the doorway of Jonah’s office and looked unsurprised at his boss and friend’s reaction. “So, um, I take it I should go down and tell the boys in the presses that ‘Iron Patriot wins’ is no longer the title on the banner headline?” asked Hoffman, secretly hoping that Jonah doesn’t turn around and make him the target of his wrath.   
  
“‘Fraid so,” Robbie replied calmly, and as Hoffman nodded and high tailed it over to the elevator, Robbie briefly looked back at the TV in Jonah’s office and allowed a small smile as he saw Spidey on screen. “Way to go, Web-Head.”   
  
Back on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrier, everyone on board the bridge, with the exception of Maria Hill, all cheered and applauded the victorious Spidey, with the Wasp, being Spidey’s biggest supporter, cheering the loudest. Later, the big screen showed the forcefield around the Colosseum disappear once the match was over.   
  
This in turn caused a smiling Cap to approached Iron Man, who was still at the commander’s station and pulled his finger out of the port. “Looks like Spider-Man beat Vision and J.A.R.V.I.S. to the punch in shutting that thing down, Tony.”   
  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Iron Man replied as he retracted the drive back into his finger. “But don’t let J.A.R.V.I.S. know, he’s very sensitive other people doing his job for him."  
  
This caused the image of the big screen to change into the glowing green circle, which was J.A.R.V.I.S. making an appearance. “You’re so kind, sir,” he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.   
  
Before answering, Iron Man briefly chuckled before looking up at his trusty A.I. “Hey, don’t feel bad buddy. Bright side is the kid left you available for another job I got in mind for you. You got access to the Helocarrier’s teleporters?”   
  
Back in Rome, both the tired Spidey and the Roman crowd got another surprised when the Wall-Crawler himself suddenly vanished out of sight…  
  
…then reappeared back in Madison Square Garden, on the stage and right in front of the large crowd cheering for the Web-Head. And if that wasn’t a big enough surprise, the Avengers themselves all appeared on stage, as well as a few medics to treat Spidey’s injuries. Before the medics could get to Spidey however, Iron Man walked over and raised his right hand and the Wasp happily hugging the Web-Slinger from behind.   
  
Naturally, the sudden appearance of the Avengers came as a shock to the announcer, who was standing stage left. But nevertheless, he turned and gave a hand signal to two Iron Patriotnettes to walk to the stage with a large, gold trophy. Moments later, he ran out with his microphone in hand and addressed the crowd as the Patriotnettes handed the still astounded Spidey the trophy that he had just won. “Well, New York, we give you both your winning champion,” said the enthusiastic announcer, pointing the speechless Wall Crawler as he held the trophy with the Wasp. “And, in accordance to the agreement with S.H.I.E.L.D., we give you the team that is now ‘officially’ Earth’s Mightiest Heroes…THE AVENGERS!”   
  
This announcement made the crowd roar in approval, as well as caused confetti to fall from the rafters, marking the Avengers victory as a celebration.   
  
For Spidey, even as he held the trophy to Wasp and allowed the two medics to approach him, he was still in a state of disbelief, but at the same time, filled with joy and accomplishment. From stopping Norman from using S.H.I.E.L.D. for his own twisted purposes that would put the world in jeopardy, to finally freeing his teammates in the Avengers, a group of REAL heroes. But more importantly, he was being cheered and loved by the people of New York, after years of being hounded and labeled a ‘menace’ by the Bugle. All which made the Web-Head smile behind his mask.   
  
Knowing that the medics would have to take Spidey away to treat him, Iron Man quickly placed his hand on the Wall Crawler’s shoulder to get his attention. “Enjoy this moment, kid. You’ve earned it!”   
  
Still sporting a grin behind his mask, Spidey gave Iron Man and nod, then turned back to the crowd while letting out very small sigh that his aching ribs and slashed chest would allow. _“Tony, you have no idea.”_   
  
**WINNER AND CHAMPION: SPIDER-MAN**


	14. Chapter 14

**THE VERDICT  
  
 _“I’ve got to admit, for a web-shooting hero like myself, who also just happened to be cursed with the crappiest luck in the world, it felt SOOOO good have some things going my way. For example, I managed to beat Osborn…again.“  
  
_** Back in the teleportation room of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helocarrier, a now beaten and none armored Norman Osborn is transported on board, along with two undercover agents who were secretly stationed within the crowd at the Colosseum and were holding him up by his arms.  Upon arrival, the still groggy Norman just assumed he was being taken to the Helocarrier’s medical bay, but was instead greeted by Nick Fury, who gave Norman a narrow brow, a very angry Maria, Iron Man, who pointed held up a charged right hand for a repulser blast, Cap with shield in hand and a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, all of whom had their firearms pointed at the defeated leader of the now defunct Thunderbolts.    
  
Norman eventually started to snap out of his daze, but soon surprised to see the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he controlled aiming their weapons at him, as well as seeing Nick Fury along with them, as well as two of the Avengers who were supposed to be imprisoned.    
  
_**“Only this time, Fury made sure that he didn’t weasel his way out of getting what was coming to him.”  
  
** _ Iron Man couldn’t help but smile at seeing the look of dismay on Norman’s face. “Welcome aboard, Norman” he said in a coy tone, to ‘pour salt on an open wound’ after everything the madman put him and his teammates through.  _**  
  
** _ “Stark?!” asked the shocked Norman, then turned his attention to the agents that were holding him up. “Let go of me, you morons,” he barked as pulled his hands from the two agents, who let him go, but only because they were ordered by Nick himself to do so once they made it to the Helocarrier. Now with adrenaline surging through his veins through the combination of the Greene and his own rage, Norman turned his attention to the agents still pointing their weapons at him. “And what are you idiots pointing your guns at me for?! Stark and Rogers are out of their cells and Fury is with them! Hurry up and-!” Suddenly, Norman’s ranting was short when the same circular disc that Iron Man created and used to imprison the Red Hulk was fired and instantly attached itself to his chest. Within a matter of seconds, the disc soon covered his entire body sans his eyes and nose and rendered him completely immobile, as well as unable to speak thanks to the nanties covering his mouth. As expected, Norman frantically struggled to get free, but not even his Greene induced strength was enough to break him out of his make shift prison.  _**  
** _   
After firing the disc and rendering Norman unable to move, Iron Man pulled his right gauntlet away so he could address the still struggling man who was once the Iron Patriot. “Yeah, not gonna happen,” the Shellhead said calmly. “See while you were getting your psychotic backside handed to you by Spider-Man, we managed to deactivate the nanites you were using to control all of the agents in the Helocarrier. And along the way, we managed to gain access to some files that you’ve kept in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s databanks. The kind that prove that you’re not as heroic as you made the people believe.”    
  
Moments later, Nick took this moment to walk over to the frozen and wide-eyed Norman. “Which allows me to say what I, along with many other people, have been wanting to tell you for a long, long time,” said Nick in a satisfied tone, and as he finally approached Norman, he locked his remaining eye with his. “Norman Osborn, oh behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the entire human race in general, you’re under arrest.”    
  
Naturally, Norman became more shocked and dismayed upon hearing those words from Nick, and thus he continued to try and break free, but to no avail.  _“No! NOOOOO!!!!” **  
  
“Man, I wish I could’ve been there to see the look on Osborn’s face when Tony and the others trapped him. But I guess smacking him around in front of the whole world will have to do. But yeah, Tony found enough evidence that incriminated not just Norman, but Zemo and the rest of his Thunderbolt lackies. As well as someone else who was just as monstrous…”  
**_   
In his lab, a frantic Miles was at his computer, trying desperately to book a plane ticket to Aruba so he can get out of the country. He, like all everyone else watching the tournament, saw Norman’s defeat, and had a gut feeling that it was only a matter of time before the police showed up. Unfortunately for panicky biologist, he received quite the surprise when he saw that the plane booking page was not accepting his credit card number. This let to his eyes growing large with fear, as that this meant that they found out about his partnership with Norman and thus froze his bank accounts. “No, no no!! he exclaimed in dismay, then moments later, he was startled when he heard what sounded like a door being kicked down. As Miles turned around to see what it was, his skin turned pure white with fear when he saw that it was Captain George Stacy and an entire New York S.W.A.T., there with a warrant for his arrest thanks to receiving a generous donation in the form of evidence of Miles’ involvement with the Thunderbolts, curtesy of Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D.  _**  
  
“It made me sick when I heard what Dr. Warren was using the ESU lab for, and how he blackmailed the Conners’ into getting it. So yeah, to say that I was happy to hear that he was going to join Norman and his posse in prison would’ve been a gross understatement. And speaking of ‘happy’, that wasn’t what a certain Spider-Man hating editor of the Daily Bugle was feeling…”  
  
** _ Just a day after the Contest of Champions tournament, Jonah was in his office at the Daily Bugle, mumbling to himself irritably as Robbie and Better walked in, with Robbing holding up the latest copy that showed a picture of the battered but victorious Spidey, with trophy in hand and the Avengers by his side. And what really got under Jonah’s skin was when he read the banner headline ‘Spider-Man: The Avenging Champ.’  _**  
  
** _ Robbie could see that Jonah was not the least bit pleased, and thus tried to break it to him gently. “Well Jonah, we just sold out every copy,” he told his hard-headed boss, whose only response was an angry scowl. After getting somewhat intimidated by this, Robbie turned his attention back to the story’s writer, Betty Brant. “But yeah, Brant, great work!” he then looked at the picture taken by a certain photographer. “And I should tell Parker he did great too next time we see him.”  _**  
  
** _ Hearing Robbie mention Peter’s last name was enough to make the seething Jonah start talking again. “Speaking of which, where is Parker? Figured he’d be here to ask me for more money for that crappy picture!”    
It was here that Robbie answered his boss, all with a sad expression. “He called this morning, J.J. Said he couldn’t make it because he got mugged and was beat up pretty bad.”    
  
Betty was also saddened to hear the reason why Peter wasn’t here. “Yeah, he called and told me too. I just hope he’s okay."    
  
Though Jonah was just as concerned about Peter’s well-being as his two co-workers, he kept a stone face to keep up with his tough guy façade. “Yeah well, if the kid can pick up and dial a phone, it means he’s not dead and he’ll heal up, Brant,” said Jonah. “I just hope he gets well enough to get his sorry butt back here so he can help, as useless as he is, to get this paper back on the right track and help show this city just what a no-good con that that Wall Crawling menace truly is!”    
  
**_“Ah, good ol’ J.J., always has his staff’s best interests at heart. But as far as me not going to the Bugle that day…”  
  
_ ** That same day in the Parker Household, a still heavily bruised Peter was now in his blue shirt, khaki pants and sneakers, and walking down the stairs while holding an icepack over his swollen left eye, just an hour after using one of the phone’s upstairs to call the Daily Bugle and tell them he wouldn’t be coming in.    
  
**_“I guess you could call it a half truth. Yeah, I was roughed up pretty bad, only with the ‘mugger’ being Osborn in his Iron Patriot armor. I still had a lot of healing to do, which meant I couldn’t be moving around, taking pictures or otherwise. So, with a little help from Nick Fury and the newly freed S.H.I.E.L.D., I called the Bugle and gave them the mugger story, and left my absence at school to an undercover agent that Fury sent…”  
  
_ ** As Peter made it to the bottom stair, he looked ahead and was surprised to see three people in the living room. The first was that of his Aunt May, who was on the couch and in complete disbelief of what was transpiring right in front of her. The second was that of Nick Fury, in his black raincoat, shirt, pants and boots calmly stood by and watched the ‘convincing’ of the Midtown High staff of Peter’s absence. And the third was a female S.H.I.E.L.D., a blonde, white woman in her mid-twenties, calling Midtown High with the living room phone, using her right hand to hold the phone to her ear, all so she could use her left hand to hold a hand-sized tubular device next to her lips, which was programmed to make her voice sound identical to that of May Parker herself.    
  
Once the school Principal on the other line said it was fine for Peter to skip a day, the female agent smiled, as she knew she achieved her objective, and thus ended it by using the device to answer the Principal as ‘The grateful aunt’. “Thank you so much for understanding, Mr. Kirby,” said the agent with May’s voice, which caused the real May to be somewhat disturbed. “Yes, I will give Peter your regards, as well those of the students and staff. Yes, goodbye.” After hanging up the phone and turning off the device, the agent turned to face Nick himself. “It’s done, sir.”    
  
“Good, then so are we,” said Nick, who then turned to May herself with a gentler expression. “You have nothing to worry about from here on out, ma’am.”    
  
“Oh, um, thank you,” May replied with a somewhat uneasy tone but still trying to be polite despite what she just saw.    
  
Nick only gave her a small smile, as he couldn’t blame her for being taken aback on what was being done to make sure that her nephew stayed home so he could heal. “Have a good day,” he told May, then looked up and saw that Peter had just walked into the room. “And kid, take it easy from here on out.”    
  
Peter only looked at Nick with an uneasy expression, as he now had not just his attention, but that of his aunt as well. Nevertheless, he still gave the S.H.I.E.L.D. director a small nod of agreement, with enough movement his swollen face would allow. “Trust me Nick, resting is definitely on top of my things to do list.”    
  
With that answer, Nick gave the injured Peter a small nod of acknowledgement, and he proceeded to walk over to the front door to leave, with the female agent not far behind.    
  
As for May herself, she immediately stood up once she caught a glimpse of her beaten up nephew, and with great concern, she ran over to Peter as Nick and the agent left the house. “PETER!” she cried out as she gently touched a portion of Peter’s face, causing him to wince a little and her heart to break greatly.    
**_  
“Well, to be more accurate, resting was ‘number two’ on my list of things to do. Number one was finally coming clean to Aunt May about being Spider-Man. This time, with her being conscious, and with the ability to scream at me if she wanted to…and honestly, I couldn't say that I blamed her."  
  
_ ** After Nick and the agent’s departure, both Peter and May were now on the couch, where they can finally talk about Peter’s secret double life as Spider-Man. And it was here that May started things off, with her worried look now changed to a stern one. “So, I take that that THIS was part of your routine of risking your life as a superhero?” May asked firmly, referring to her nephew’s swollen and slowly healing face. “A routine you felt that you couldn’t tell me about?”    
  
Peter could hear both the anger and sadness building in her voice, and the fact that not only was hurt more than any punch or kick he received as Spider-Man, but also made him feel no different than Osborn himself. But nevertheless, he proceeded with the heart-wrenching task of telling his aunt the truth. “More or less,” he replied, trying to sound lighthearted but could see that May was not buying. As such, he quickly dropped the humor and continued the conversation as gently as he could. “So, I take it Nick told you?”   
  
May took a moment to sigh as he thought back to the vague memory of being in the safehouse, when she was in a comatose state and she actually heard Peter’s confession before he went on to his match. “No, you did,” May replied, feeling the sorrow of that day take over. “Back in that safehouse, remember?”    
  
Naturally, this answer completely shocked Peter, for as far as he knew, she was still asleep when he told her that day. “Wait?! You knew?! You mean you conscious?!”    
  
“Somewhat,” said May, still hurt as she continued her story. “I’m no doctor, but I guess you could say I was popping in and out of sleep. I only remember bits and pieces, but I remembered you telling me that you were Spider-Man and why you kept doing it. But most of all, I still remember how hurt I was when you’ve lied to me for so long.”    
  
“Yeah, I know…” Peter replied regretfully as he hung his head in shame. “I’m so sorry, Aunt May. I’ll understand if you hate my guts.”    
  
It was here that May soon gently placed her hand underneath Peter’s chin and as gently as she could, brought his face up so she could look at her., “That is where you’re wrong, kiddo,” she told him firmly, surprising the young man once again. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not happy that you’ve kept this from me all this time, and I’m certainly not thrilled with you having to risk your life day in and day out, but you should know by now that I will always love you! And as far your Uncle’s death is concerned, that burglar is to blame for Ben not being her with us, not you!” As she continued, May allowed a very small smile to appear on her face as she came to this point. “But…if there’s any comfort about this, it’s that you’ve honored what your Uncle told you about ‘power and responsibility,’ and you’ve showed it with all the good that you’ve done for this city. And, with you being alongside Captain America and the Avengers, I suppose you do have the proper supervision, and I guess at this point, I’m not able to stop you.” Moments later, May gently moved closer and hugger her nephew close, but not too tightly due to his lingering injuries. And, with rolling down her cheeks, she said this into his ear. “Just promise me that you’ll listen to whatever the Avengers tell you to do and be more careful, Peter. Because as proud as I am of you, I don’t want to lose you just like I lost your Uncle.”    
  
Naturally, Peter was stunned on how his aunt seemed to, albeit reluctantly, give her blessing to him being a superhero, as he was expected to be yelled at and told to leave and never come back. But regardless, he gently hugged his aunt back, with one tear going down his uninjured eye. “You won’t Aunt May, I promise.”    
  
_**“Man, did it feel good to hear that Aunt May still loved me, and that she would try to give my life as Spider-Man a chance as long as I didn’t end up killed. And while I had every intention of keeping my promise to stay alive…I wasn’t too sure about the Avengers ‘being my supervisors’. I still had to wait for them to decide whether or not I should be on the team officially, based on how I did in the tournament. Which brings me to today…”  
  
** _ Two days after the tournament, a healed but still slightly bruised Peter, still wearing his usual clothing, was now in the backseat of a limousine that was sent by Tony Stark himself and was taking him over to the Avengers Mansion. While sitting in the back, Peter was also in the middle of typing in the notepad program of his cellphone, as part of his ‘diary’, should the day come where he would stop being Spider-Man and would have to document his adventures to the public.  _“…I’m now in the backseat of one of Tony Stark’s many limos and on my way to the Avengers Mansion to find out where I stand in being part of the team,”_ he typed.  _“And man, I am BEYOND nervous! Still, whatever the outcome, it was still a blast, and an honor, to fight alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Whether it’s fighting time traveling tyrants, a giant planet eating alien, or just recently, fighting in a tournament ran by a psychotic like Osborn. And if they don’t let me on the team, well, all I can say is, it was a good ride. Fingers crossed.”_ After finishing his latest entry, Peter stopped typed and placed his phone in his right pants pocket. He then looked out the window and saw that the Avengers Mansion was not too far away, and thus took a deep breath to try and settle his nerves, though it did little to no help to calm him down.    
  
Meanwhile, in the lower levels of the Avengers Mansion, more specially, the science quarters, the double doors open to show the human sized Wasp, who was out of her black and yellow dress and was wearing the fashionable clothing of Janet Van Dyne, coming down after escorting another ‘guest’ to the roof of the mansion to wait for Peter. It was here that she walked out of the elevator with a firm look as she made her way to Yellowjacket’s mobile lab to confront him, determined to find out the truth about his personality change back at the Helocarrier. Was it just a ploy to prevent the Avengers from kicking him off the team so he can carry on his own agenda, or was Hank Pym, the REAL Hank Pym, the one that she fell in love with, truly back? Dead set on finding out, Jan stormed into the mobile lab, and received quite the surprise on what she saw.    
  
Namely that it wasn’t filled with weapons, or what harmful gadgets that Yellowjacket had cooked up, but this time, it was stored with science equipment, the kind that Hank once used when he was Ant-Man. As she continued to look around the chamber in amazement, Jan noticed the Yellowjacket costume on display inside a plastic casing, something that both astonished and confused her.    
  
Little did Jan know; however, she was in for another shock. One that was in the form of Henry Pym, this time dressed in a lab coat, as well as a white dress shirt with a black tie, khaki pants and brown shoes. He seemed a bit unsure on how to approach Jan after what she had been through, but nevertheless, he proceeded to address her in the most gentle way possible “As you can see, I’ve been busy turning this lab into a place of science, as it was meant to be ,” he said softly, and succeeded in causing Jan to turn and around and have her eyes grow huge upon seeing him. As Hank continued, his expression soon changed to a sad one as he looked at the Yellowjacket costume in the case. “But I still keep that costume as a reminder of all the harm that was caused, and to work hard on trying to atone for it.” Moments later, Hank soon turned his Jan, who appeared to look at him more angrily. “Jan, I…”    
  
Jan quickly pointed her index finger at Hank to cut him off mid-sentence. “Don’t lie to me!” Jan demanded, and as she walked up to the scientist, her eyes began to water up. “Is it you? Is it REALLY you this time?”    
  
A sad and ashamed Hank gave Jan a small nod. “It is, Jan. While it’s true, ‘Yellowjacket’ was doing more harm than good, I still let it happen. I let him hurt my friends, and more importantly…I let him hurt you.” It was here that Hank’s sadness turned to resolution as he looked in Jan’s tearing eyes. “But Jan, I swear to you, on my soul, as long as I’m here helping you and the Avengers, you will never see that side of me ever again!”    
  
This statement only caused Jan to be even more confused. “Wait, what do you mean ‘help us’?”    
  
“Well, even though I have no desire to fight villains, I still want to help the Avengers protect the planet,” Hank explained. “And so, after about an hour-long discussion with Tony, half of which was convincing him that I’m me again, he’s allowed me to stay on board as the Avengers’ chief scientific advisor. This way, I can avoid violence, but also use my knowledge and passion for science to help the team that are not just my friends…but my family.” Moments later, Hank took both Jan’s hands so he can tell her this. “And also, help the woman who, up until I let Yellowjacket take over, always stood by me and believed in me, and whom I’ve always cared for deeply since then.” It was here that Hank started to struggle a bit with what he had to say next, for even was never the best at discussing his feelings. “So much so, that…there’s something I been meaning to tell her for quite some time now…”   
  
At this point, Jan could feel happiness surging through her. Not only did she know for certain that Hank Pym was back, but she could see it in his eyes that he was going to say what she’s always wanted him to say, all which led her to shed tears of joy.    
  
Hank into Jan’s hope filled, watery eyes, and had the feeling that he was about to tell her what she’s wanted to hear. It was more than enough to make him shake off his nervousness and finally come clean. “Jan, I love you! I’ve always-“    
  
Suddenly, Hank was cut off again, but this time, with an ecstatic Jan wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him hard. Naturally, this surprised Hank greatly, but it didn’t take long for him wrap his arms around Jan’s waist and return the kiss. It was a moment that both new lovers have wanted for a long time and dared not stopped it…as the kept kissing for a good ten minutes.    
  
Meanwhile, outside the mansion, Peter had finally arrived at the front doorstep. But just before Peter could ring the doorbell, J.A.R.V.I.S’s circular interface shows up on the screen on the right side of the door and greets the young man. “Welcome, Mr. Parker.”    
  
Naturally, this startled Peter so much, he stepped back and almost fell off the door step and just barely stopped himself. Afterwards, he let out a sigh of relief, which caused him to wince briefly due to his still aching side, and thus looked at J.A.R.V.I.S.’s interface. “Hey J.A.R.V.I.S., you want to do me a favor and not do that! I’m still not quite healed up yet, and I don’t need a heart attack to make things worse.”    
  
“My apologies,” J.A.R.V.I.S. replied in his usual proper and polite manner. “I do admit, it is a habit I’m still working on. But please come in, Mr. Stark and the others are expecting you.” With that said, J.A.R.V.I.S. caused the front door automatically.    
  
Peter was still a bit troubled by this, but regardless, he still tried to keep himself composed. “Uh….thanks.” Peter told J.A.R.V.I.S. in an uneasy tone, then walked into the mansion, allow the team’s trusty A.I. to close the door behind him.    
  
Once inside, Peter looked around the huge and lavish interior once again, this being his second time being here, with the first being when he and his teammates were regrouping during the tournament’s half-time. Still, he couldn’t help but marvel at is design.    
  
Just as Peter admired the hallway’s interior, one of the mansion’s primary residents comes walking down the stairs. It was that of Tony Stark, who this time dressed in black pants and a red silk shirt with his neck collar unbuttoned. “Nice to see that you made it, kid.”    
  
Peter soon looked up to where he heard Tony’s voice, and once he saw the billionaire, he nervously stood up as strait to appear formal, or at least as straight as his injured body could allow. “Oh, uh, hi, Mr. Stark! And yeah, I wouldn’t miss it!”    
  
Once Tony stepped off the bottom stair, he could only chuckle at Peter’s almost panicky response. “For the eighth billionth time kid, It’s Tony,” he told Peter with a smirk, normally feeling annoyed when being called the dreaded, in his mind, ‘Mr. Stark’, but in this case, he didn’t mind. He was just glad to see that Peter was healing up nicely after enduring so much punishment from fighting not just Osborn, but all his other physically taxing matches during the tournament. Afterwards, Tony walked over to the still anxious Peter with a welcoming smile. “Come on, everybody’s waiting for you.”    
  
After taking a moment to take a deep breath to calm himself, Peter gave Tony a small smile as he nodded in acknowledgement. “Lead the way.”    
  
Meanwhile, inside the Mansion’s lounge, the Avengers, both original and new, as well as Nick Fury and Sharon Carter, are all dressed in casual clothing by Tony’s suggestion, feeling that the events of the tournament were all too stressful, and felt they needed to relax, which the team didn’t disagree with. The only exceptions to this request were Thor and Hulk, with the God of Thunder feeling that his battle armor WAS casual to him, and the Hulk wearing only his tattered pants from yesterday and feeling that changing out of them would just be a waste of time.    
  
As the Avengers all conversed amongst themselves while waiting for Tony and Peter, as well as the still absent Hank and Jan, Lue Cage is in the corner of the room talking on his cellphone, all the while his partner, Danny ‘Iron Fist’ Rand, conversed with Misty Knight. “So how about it, Jenny?” asked the Power Man. “How’s Lang doing?”    
  
Elsewhere, in the Heroes for Hire office, the heroes’ secretary, Jenny Royce, is on the phone with Luke, all while watching Scott Lang happily playing his daughter, Cassie. “Well boss, both he and his little girl couldn’t be happier,” she replied. “Also, about that Mark Allen kid you told me about, I got a call from Matt Murdock, and he managed to convince the judge in court to lesson the kid’s his sentence to six months, and with good behavior, he’ll be out in three. I’ve got to admit Luke, it’s not like you to go easy on superpowered criminals. Especially one that you fought against in a superhero tournament.”    
  
Back at the mansion, Luke rolled his eyes upon hearing Jenny’s response, both in annoyance and silent agreement. For he felt that he, Luke Cage, the always tough as nails Hero for Hire, was starting to get soft. “Well, he’s not a bad kid,” Luke replied truthfully. “He was only doing what he was doing to keep his sister safe. Hopefully this time, after being Osborn’s pawn was enough to set him straight.” Moments later, Luke saw Tony and Peter walk into the room. “Gotta run, I’ll talk to you when Danny and I get back to the office.” With that said, Luke hung up his cellphone and walked over to join the rest the Avengers in discussing Peter’s membership.    
  
Once he entered the room, Peter couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed but see this many people gathered in one place, people who were now, truly, undisputedly Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, all because of him. Nothing could be more surprising than this…that is until the young man heard the proper, digitized male voice of the vision. “Welcome, Mr. Peter Parker.”    
  
Peter soon turned to where he heard Vision’s voice, and shocked see that the Vision himself was not quite…solid. Meaning that the humanoid appeared to be that of a hologram being projected from one of J.A.R.V.I.S. interface located in the ceiling in the room, which gave the android a more ghost-like appearance. “Uh…Vision?” asked the confused Peter. “Is that you?”    
  
“Affirmative,” Vision replied, feeling somewhat uneasy with Peter’s reaction to his appearance, but understood why it startled the young man, and thus went on to explain his new transparent form. “I downloaded my programming into the Mansion’s network after the tournament’s conclusion. My body is still undergoing repairs back in the hanger of the mansion, which will have a duration of thirty days.”    
  
It was here that Tony intercepted, trying to mask his uneasiness with his usual easygoing demeanor. “Yeah, but this time, when you’re finally back together Vision, you won’t be in a world with Osborn in charge."    
  
This remark caused Nick to chime into the conversation, with his arms crossed and with his calm and firm demeanor. “And now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is no longer being controlled by him, we’re going to make sure that it stays that way.”    
  
Though Tony seemed skeptic of Nick’s claim, remembering how he, along with his fellow Avengers, had to capture villains that broke out under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s watch, not to mention having to bail the agency out on a few occasions, with the recent events of the tournaments of the tournament being chief among them. But nevertheless, he gave Nick a small nod of agreement, as this was not the time to let him know about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s inability to keep villains locked up and start an argument. Suddenly, through the corner of his left eye, Tony looked through the corner of his left eye and saw that Hank and Jan had just arrived, with Jan herself holding Hank’s arm. “Right on time,” Tony said pleasantly, which resulted in Peter and Nick turn in that direction as well. One the two lovers approached them, Tony looked down to see Jan holding on to Hank’s arm closely, all which made the billionaire look at Hank with an intrigued raised eyebrow. “I take it you two patched things up?”    
  
A nervous Hank chuckled nervously before answering Tony. “Yes…and then some,” he told Tony sheepishly, making reference to the kiss that started his relationship with Jan.    
  
Jan quietly giggled in Hank’s shy response, always loving that part about him. Moments later, she saw the bruised-up Peter, and her happiness turned into worry as she releases Hank’s arm, then walked over and gently hugged teen, not squeezing too tightly so as not to injure him further. “Hey champ,” Jan said to Peter softly, then slowly backed away to face him. “How are you healing?”    
  
“Slow, but I’m getting there,” Peter replied truthfully, as well as disappointed. “I mean, I heal faster than normal people due to the spider bite, but it’s nowhere near as fast as Wolverine’s healing factor. And I’m not going to lie, I wish we could switch powers right about now.”    
  
Logan was near the fire place drinking a large pint of beer when he heard Peter’s words, and only after putting the glass down on top of the mantle was when he answered the young man. “No, you don’t kid. Trust me,” said the X-Man in a grim tone, remembering all the draw backs that came from his regenerative powers. Namely his slowed aging and how he was forced to watch as some of his friends over his long years grow old and pass away while he stayed the same.    
  
Though Peter was still taken aback by Logan’s comment, Tony ignored it and turned to Steve Rogers, wearing clothing that was neatly pressed, showing that in this new era, he maintained his sense of discipline when not fighting crime and protecting the country as Captain America. “Well either way, now that everybody’s all here and accounted for, I think it’s time we got this show on the road, huh Steve?”    
  
“Right you are, Tony,” Steve replied, then raised his hand to get the attention of everyone in the room. “Everyone, please quiet down! It’s time to get started.”    
  
Upon hearing Steve’s words, most of the people present walked over to the left and right sides of the room, while the founding Avengers such as Steve, Jan, Hank, Tony, Thor, and even the Hulk stood in front of the fire place, almost as if they were judges. All which left a nervous Peter in the center of the room and standing right in front of the founding Avengers right in front of him, all ready to give their verdict regarding the teen’s membership.    
  
Peter felt pure fearfulness take over once he felt the ‘trial’ atmosphere. But despite this, he remained as regal as he could. After all, he was in the presence of the Avengers, and thus felt he had that just as he had to show the best of Spider-Man back in the tournament, he had to show the best of Peter Parker the person.    
  
Once everyone had settled down, Steve soon stepped forward to start things off. “All right everyone, as many of you already know, we are here to discuss the status of Peter Parker’s membership status in the Avengers.” As Steve continued, he looked at Peter, and for a moment, gave him a firm look. “And I can’t lie son, there were moments where your lack in both discipline and long-term experience showed and showed that you were a little rough around the edges.”    
  
Peter hung his head in sadness upon hearing this comment. True, he expected to hear this from Steve, as well as the rest of the Avengers, but it still hurt his pride nonetheless.    
  
Steve continued the review, but this time, a small smile appeared on his face. “But, when the situation was dire, you pushed on and came through when not just the team, but the entire world, needed you the most. Proving yourself to be not just soldier, but an Avenger.” Steve saw Peter look up to him hope and elation, and it reminded him of himself when he was told that he had been selected for Operation: Rebirth. “Granted, you still have a lot to learn, but we’ll see to it that you’d be given the proper training and guidance to make sure that you’re groomed into one of the best. All and all, we would be more than happy to keep you on the team.”    
  
From here, a smirking Tony decided to jump in. “In other words, kid…you’re in. Welcome to being a full-time Avenger.”    
  
With that verdict, everyone in the room, from Peter’s strongest supporters, to the proven wrong skeptics, all applauded Peter for his acceptance into the team.    
  
As for Peter himself, he allowed a wide, joyous grin to appear on his face, as well as feel the lingering pain that existed in his body vanish, as he had now found acceptance within the group of heroes that he looked up to and idolized.    
  
Once everyone finished clapping, Carol Danvers, one of Peter’s biggest doubters, was still big enough to walk over to elated young man and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “Welcome aboard kid,” she told him, getting his attention. “And…you did good at the tournament. Real good.”    
  
Peter responded to Carol by giving her both a small smile and respectful nod. “Thanks.”    
  
The next to give his praise was that of Thor, who walked over to Peter to personally welcome his new comrade. “Indeed, Man of Spiders!” Thor said in his loud joyous tone. “Your actions make you not only worthy of the Avengers but would also make you most welcome in Asgard!”    
  
Though Peter appreciated Thor’s sentiment, he still found his loud demeanor a little unnerving. “Uh, thanks…that’s good to know.” Peter told the Thunder God slightly nervously; all the while Carol has her palm over her face in embarrassment.    
  
Meanwhile, the Hulk only watched as the group of heroes gather around Peter with Clint and T’Challa standing next to the Jade Giant.    
  
It was here that the Clint looked up to the Hulk, curious as to why his naturally cranky large teammate was still looking at the Avengers welcoming their newest teammate. “Why so glum, Jade Jaws?” asked Clint. “Upset that Webs over there pounded Osborn before you got the chance?”    
  
“A little,” Hulk replied truthfully, but as he looked at Peter being congratulated by more and more of the Avengers, the Green Goliath gave a small shrug. “But, at the end of the day, the kid showed that he’s got a lot of fight in him…as well as plenty of heart. So, I’d like to see what else he can do.” Moments later, the Hulk’s cranky scowl transformed into a confident smirk. “Still, he can’t smash as good as me.”    
  
Clint couldn’t help but shrug himself, but in agreement to the Hulk being the best at smashing, as he seen it firsthand. “Hey, can’t argue with you on that.”   
  
This, in turn, led the usually reserved T’Challa to smile also, as well as give a remark of his own to Clint. “And THAT would be the smartest thing you’ve ever said.”    
  
This remark naturally annoyed Clint to no end. “Hey, watch it, Your Highness!”    
  
Clint’s irritable retort was heard by that of the Natasha ‘Black Widow’ Romanov, who silently laughed at her old partner’s response. It remanded her of the banter that she used to get into with him when on assignment from S.H.I.E.L.D., and it was something that she missed. So much so, that she was thinking of addressing Tony Stark himself and ask to join the team as well, so she can work along side him again.    
  
Meanwhile, as Jan watched Peter conversing with Steve, as well as being proud of him like she would be his little brother, she caught a glimpse of Sharon Carter slowly approaching, and her blonde hair suddenly reminded her of the other ‘guest’ she brought to the mansion. As such, she quickly walked over to Peter and gently pulled him aside. “Sorry Cap,” Jan told Steve politely, using her smile to hide her hastiness. “I need to borrow the Man of the Hour for just a second.” As she pulled the bewildered Peter along, Jan whispered this to him. “There’s somebody else here who’s dying to see you.”    
  
As the baffled Peter walked with Jan, he looked around the room and wonder who else would need to see him with all the Avengers present. “Really? Who?”    
  
Jan only gave Peter a sly smile as well as a wink. “Oh, you see when we get upstairs,” she answered coyly, then proceeded to lead the young man out of the room and over to a nearby elevator.    
  
Meanwhile, Tony found himself starring at the large, Contest of Champions trophy inside a casing. After the events of the tournament, he did offer it to Peter as he was the one who won it, only for the Peter himself to refuse, as he said that it would cause suspicion to any people who would come over to his house. It was a decision that Tony understood and respected, but at the same time, gave him an idea. One in which he decided to share with Steve, who was still a bit confused by Jan suddenly taking Peter away. “You know Steve,” said the billionaire, still looking at the trophy, but managed to make Steve turn and face him. “This idea of a superhero tournament doesn’t sound like a bad one.”    
  
Naturally, this suggestion caused Steve to look at Tony in pure disbelieve. “What?”    
  
“Hear me out,” Tony replied holding his hand up to stop Steve from interrupting him before he could finish but kept his eyes on the trophy. “Each Avenger, or hero that signs up, can pick and fight for their own charities, and money goes to whoever wins. Plus, it’s a good way to look for new members, so this way, everybody wins and-” As Tony turned to face Steve, he saw that the Super Soldier had already stepped away from him and was now talking to Sharon Carter, a person to whom Steve had long since been interested in but never had the chance to properly talk to and figured now was as good as time as any to try. All which left Tony feeling both jilted and annoyed. “A simple ‘no’ would’ve been fine,” he muttered, then briefly caught a glimpse of Peter and Jan inside an elevator and the close closed. Something that managed to make Tony smile, knowing where Jan was taking the young man, and more importantly, to introduce him to a surprise guest that he and Jan arranged on bringing for a special surprise. All which left happy Tony to say this quietly. “Best of luck, kid.” 


	15. Chapter 15

**ACCEPTANCE**   
  
As Peter rode up the elevator with Jan, he still couldn’t believe the day he was having. He had not only been accepted into the Avengers, but was now being taken by Jan to meet up with some mysterious guest to which, as Jan said, couldn’t wait to meet him. Peter could tell from Jan’s giddy smile that she was hiding something, and thus decided to just ask for a hint. “Well, at least tell me this, is this a big fan of Spider-Man?”    
  
“You could say that,” Jan answered with a coy tone, as a he way of saying ‘not telling.’    
  
Despite not getting a solid answer, Peter still chuckled a bit. “Okay fine, I’ll let you surprise me. But to be honest, I can’t think of anything that can top all that’s happened today.”    
  
Suddenly, the elevator stopped with a singing sound could be heard, signaling to both Jan and Peter that they reached the floor they were heading to. All in which led Jan to give this sly remark. “Don’t be too sure, bug boy.”    
  
It didn’t take long for the elevator doors to open and reveal the mansion’s rooftop pool area. As both he and Jan walked out of the elevator, Peter still looked a bit confused as to why his new female teammate brought him up here. “Okay,” said the befuddled Peter as he looked around his new settings. “Pool’s nice and all, but where’s this…” Suddenly, once he looked straight ahead, Peter finally saw the ‘guest’, which in turn, caused his one healthy right eye to grow huge with shock.    
Sure enough, it was revealed to be Gwen, who wore her long, blowing, blonde hair down and dressed in a pink t-shirt, and red jeans. She was sitting on one of the sunbathing chairs, waiting anxiously for Peter to show up, and appeared to be a bit nervous to see him.    
  
For Peter, who stood there with his jaw wide open when spotted Gwen, the girl he cared for the most, on the roof of the Avengers Mansion of all places. “Gwen…?” he whispered in disbelief, then quickly turned to Jan. “How did she get here?”    
  
It was here that Jan’s giddy nature disappeared and was replaced with a more mature demeanor as she turned to the flabbergasted Peter to answer him. “I’m how,” she replied, shocking Peter even more. “After the tournament, when you went back home to rest up, me, Tony and the rest of the Avengers briefly stopped at Times Square for a victory celebration, I met up with her and after talking a bit, I agreed to bring her here to see you.”    
  
This only made Peter give Jan a dumbfounded look, for he remembered having the ‘stay away from loved ones to keep them safe’ discussion they had during the tournament and reluctantly agreed with her on it. “But I thought you  said-?”    
  
“I know what I said, Peter,” Jan chimed in, cutting Peter off and briefly turned away from him to look at the still waiting Gwen. “And yeah, believe me, I really did try to tell her about the dangers of being around superheroes, but she wouldn’t budge, mainly because she cared about you that much. Also…” As she delved deeper, she remembered just a few minutes ago when she kissed Hank, which actually made her heart pound and blush wildly. “I just realized how good a feeling it is toe love someone, and have that person love you back.” Moments later, Jan turned back to the befuddled Peter with a warm smile. “I can tell that that’s what Gwen wants from you no matter what Pete. And I’m willing to think…that that’s what you want too.”     
  
It was here that Peter couldn’t disagree with Jan, for as far as his feelings were Gwen were concerned, she was right. As such, he gave the founding Avenger a silent nod.   
  
After getting her answer, Jan gave Peter a soft but serious look as she walked over to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “So, here’s the deal, Pete. If you really do want to be with her, just make sure she truly understands the dangers of dating a superhero, and more importantly, try all that much harder to protect from here on out. Got it?”   
  
Peter was genially moved by Jan’s words and he could sense the truth in them. After all, he already vowed that he would take better care of his Aunt May now that she knew his secret, why shouldn’t he do the same for Gwen, especially sense the love he feels for her is more than mutual. With this in mind, Peter took a deep breath, and with a look of resolve, he gave Jan a small nod as he have her this answer. “Got it.”    
  
“Good to know,” Jan replied, convinced that Peter knew that his responsibilities to keep his loved ones safe was now greater than ever. She then noticed a flower pot of red roses nearby and seeing this as a way to help Peter in his meeting with Gwen, she reached over, plucked off one of the roses and presented to the young man, all with a small smile and wink. “Now go get her.”    
  
A grateful Peter gave Jan a returning smile as he took the rose. “Thanks Jan.” With rose in tow, Peter turned to the waiting Gwen, and proceeded to walk towards her.    
  
Upon watching Peter leave, Jan made her way to the elevator at first, but once she made it to the doors, she couldn’t help but be curious on how this ‘soap opera’ would play out. As such, she quickly shrunk back down to her pixie size, wings and all, along with her black and yellow Wasp dress, and secretly flew behind Peter to watch upcoming reunion with the blonde girl he loved.    
  
As Peter got closer, he grew more and more blown away by Gwen’s almost angelic beauty. It wasn’t until he was five feet away from her that Peter took a deep to settle his nerves.  _“Okay, here goes nothing,”_ he thought, then took a moment silently clear his throat to address Gwen, who still had no idea he was standing there. “Uh, hey Gwen,” Peter called out somewhat sheepishly, much to the annoyance of the shrunken Wasp, who was eavesdropping on the two teens while hiding behind a plant.    
  
Gwen soon felt a surge of emotions when she heard Peter’s voice, all which caused her to turn around to see him and was horrified to see still injured face. “Peter!” she cried out of concern, then shot out of the chair and ran to him. Once she finally appeared before the once again nervous Peter, and saw his face up close, Gwen placed her right hand over her mouth as her worry soon turned into sadness. “Oh my god, your face!”    
  
“Hey, it's okay Gwen” Peter said trying to be reassuring, as he always hated seeing Gwen depressed, especially over him, and tried to be optimistic for her sake. “Trust me, it’s a lot better than it was two days ago. And hopefully by tomorrow, I’ll be as good as new. Kudos to one of my spider powers being able to heal a lot quicker than normal.” Moments later, he presented somewhat sheepishly presented her the rose.    
  
Gwen did take the rose, but she was far too concerned with Peter's face to really enjoy it. “Right…” Gwen replied in a somewhat deflated tone as she placed the rose on a nearby bleacher, still hating to see him injured despite that she sensed that he was telling the truth on how he was recovering nicely. However, this was also one of the amazing things he could sense becoming Spider-Man, and as student of science herself, she still couldn’t resist trying to find out how this was possible. “Good lord, I still can’t believe you were Spider-Man this whole time,” said Gwen in pure astonishment.  “How you’ve been able to do all these…incredible things!” Moments later, Gwen’s amazement soon turned to disappointment she remembered this detail. “Just as I also can’t believe how you kept this from the people close to you.”    
  
Peter shared in Gwen’s sadness, as well as still hating himself for not telling her and May about his secret life as we web-slinging superhero. “Yeah, I know. Not telling my friends and family about this is…not something that I’m proud of.” Suddenly, upon seeing that word, Peter was soon reminded of someone else that he had not seen since the tournament. Someone whom he had not only called his friend but was also someone he reluctantly fought. “Hey, did you see Harry after the tournament? Is he okay?”    
  
Upon hearing that question, Gwen soon felt instant heartbreak as she looked up at Peter. “Yeah, I did,” she replied grief stricken. “And yes, he’s fine….physically.” And it was here she went on to recount the last time she saw the young Osborn…   
  
_…. It was at Ravencroft, a day after the tournament and Gwen was standing in front of a reinforced plastic wall, with Harry, now clad in a white jumpsuit on the other side, inside a holding cell. Accompanying Gwen were both her father, Captain Stacy and a tall, muscular bald white guard that was assigned to guide them through the Institute throughout their visit.  
  
Harry, instead of being happy that Gwen was here to visit him, looked at the girl with utter contempt. “What do you want?” Harry asked her coldly. “I’d thought you’d be getting cozy with your new boy toy. You know, the guy who was supposed to be my best friend?!”   
  
Naturally, Gwen was confused and shocked by Harry’s remark. And what was more troubling, she had an idea as to what he was referring to but didn’t know how he would know about that night she, Harry, and Peter were all together that night. As such, she decided to try and probe deeper while trying to be as gentle as she could. “Harry, what are you mean?”   
  
“Oh, don’t act innocent!” Harry snapped, then walked closer to the glass wall so he could say this to Gwen up face to face. “I was listening to what you and Peter were planning that night I told you that I thought I was the Goblin! How you two were going to dump me and Liz so you could be together! You might as well just come clean and say that you really love a backstabber like Peter instead of me! If you really do care, you’ll do that right here, right now!” _   
  
_Gwen was hesitant at first, but deep down, she knew that Harry deserved to know the truth. And with her eyes close, she sadly nodded her head to Harry, which caused him to angrily look down. “I’m so sorry, Harry. I truly am. But Peter and I didn’t want to start are relationship by going behind your back! As much as we hated to hurt both you and Liz, we needed to be truthful and-!”  
  
“Save it,” Harry chimed in, looking back up at Gwen fuming with anger. “I don’t need your excuses, or your pity! Dad was right about you being a weakness.” As he continued, a sinister smirk appeared on Harry’s face when he came to this memory. “And if there’s any good came out of my father’s funeral was that I got my payback in letting you think that you were the only one to keep me from going back to the Greene.” _   
_  
It was this confession that caused Gwen’s eyes to light up with shock and disgust. “You used your father’s staged death to make me stay?! The man who turned you, his own son, into a monster for his own sick ends?!”  
  
“SHUT UP!!!” Harry screamed in rage as he stomped closer. “Don’t you dare insult my father!”   
  
Though George knew that there was nothing to worry about thanks to the plastic wall, Harry’s outburst still caused his father’s instincts to kick in and rush to Gwen’s side. This also caused the guard to step forward into Harry’s view with a taser in hand. “Behave yourself, Osborn!”   
  
Once Harry saw the guard, he gave him a cocky smirk. “When I get out of here pal, YOU’RE the one who needs to behave, pal!” he said defiantly, he looked over him to face Gwen to give her an angry scowl. “And as for you, I’ve got better things to do, and I don’t need an anchor like you slowing me down! I’m done with your excuses, I’m done with your lies, and more importantly…I’m done with you! We’re through! So do us both a favor by leaving and never speaking to me again.” After saying such harsh words, Harry literally and figuratively turn his back on Gwen to face the wall.   
  
For Gwen, hearing the bitterness in Harry’s words cut like a knife. She could see that the symbiote, as well as his father’s manipulations, have truly changed the boy who, despite all else, still loved like a brother.  
  
George hated seeing his daughter in such sorrow, and he gave Harry an angry look of contempt because of it. “Come on, honey, let’s go,” he said to her softly, then proceeded to lead her away from Harry’s cell, with the guard not too far behind him.   
  
As for Harry himself, he just angrily faced the wall and clinched his fisted his fists, all while shedding tears of anguish after enduring the betrayal of the woman he loved, and silently declared that he will never forgive her, or Peter. And vows that one day, once he’s out of Ravencroft, he will make them pay…”   
  
_ …back in the present, a depressed Gwen finished her story, all which left Peter stunned and angry on how Harry used his father’s fake death and Gwen’s own guilt to make her stay with him.    
  
Finally, after a few seconds of silence, a seething Peter spoke up. “Gwen, I-I’m so sorry! I can’t believe would do that to you!”    
  
Gwen gently placed her hand on Peter’s mouth to quiet him and have him look at her. “Peter, listen!” she told him softly, but sternly, looking into his hazel eyes. “Yes, Harry did use his father’s funeral to guilt trip me out of spite, but we have to remember that he acted out of anger. You and I both know that he’s not evil like his father, and right now, he’s in a place where he can get the help that he needs. For now, all we can do is give him space and time and hope and pray that he’ll accept their help.”    
  
Though Peter was still angry at Harry for his actions, he as he looked into Gwen’s kind, blue eyes, he realized that she had a strong point in that Harry, deep down, is not a heartless monster like his father, and was at a place where he can help find himself again and make the first step towards redemption, as well as in a place where he can’t hurt anyone. With this in mind, Peter took a deep breath to calm down and gave Gwen an understanding nod.  __  
  
Gwen could see that anger was still present Peter but was glad to see that he understood. And as such, she decided to take both of his hands as she brought back the matter of where their relationship on where it stands now. “Speaking of ‘help’, I could’ve done that you know, had I known that you’ve been Spider-Man all this time. In fact, there were a couple of times that I did, with Doctor Connors and getting out of that underwear hideout from that Octopus guy.” Gwen could sense that Peter was about to give her the whole ‘superhero life is too dangerous’ speech, and thus held up her index to finger to prevent him from talking. “But before you say anything,” she said quickly, catching Peter by surprise before he could interject. “I get it, okay. I know why you think we shouldn’t be together and pushing me away is the only choice you have to keep me safe. But can’t you love me enough to let me make my own decision?” Once she saw Peter’s surprised expression, she knew she had his undivided attention and continued. “I know, from experience, that there will be risks. But I want to face them with you! Being a superhero is too big for you to handle alone, and you’re going to need support. Not just from the Avengers, but from the people who love you the most! Like your aunt…” Gwen soon brought her right hand up and gently rested it on Peter’s right cheek. “…and me!”    
  
Upon feeling Gwen’s touch, Peter felt his heart racing, and hearing her profess her love for him the second time easily better than being accepted into a world-renowned superhero team. And while the possibility of her life being put at risk by being him was present, he remembered Jan’s advice on trying all that much harder to protect him, and it was a responsibility he was willing to take. And so, having decided to no longer keep her at a distance, Peter used his right hand to gently take Gwen’s hand off his cheek and placed it close to his chest and over his beating heart. “As long as I can remember, my life has never been easy, even before the spider bite. And now that I’m an Avenger, I have a feeling that it’s going to be even more of an emotional roller coaster.” As he went on, Peter looked into Gwen’s hopeful eyes. “But I also know that for so long, you’ve always been there Gwen, and there’s not a day that I’m not grateful to have someone as caring as you by my side. And if this is what you really want, then…you’re welcome to join the ride. And I swear to you, on my soul, I’ll do what ever it takes to be there for you whenever you need me….as well as love you for the rest of my days.”    
  
Hearing the words that she wanted Peter to say for so long caused Gwen to gasp happily. “Peter…!” she whispered, her eyes now watering and on the verge of shedding tears of joy.    
  
From here, both lovestruck teens slowly closed their eyes and lean towards one another, so they could have the kiss to begin their relationship. However, just as their lips were inches away from touching, they stop and back away from one another when they hear what appeared to be a tiny female making a happy squeeing sound, like a girl about to see her favorite TV couple get together. Both curious, Peter and Gwen turned to where they heard the noise.    
  
Sure enough, it was that of the shrunken Wasp, who upon seeing that she’s been found out, flew into view. “Sorry,” she said somewhat nervous, but still clamped her hands together in a somewhat begging posture. “But please, don’t mind me! Just keep doing what it was you were about to do!”    
  
Suddenly, Wasp could hear her Avengers’ I.D. card beeping, and as she pulled it out to answer it, she saw that it was Tony calling. “Jan please,” Tony said with urgency. “Would you give those kids some privacy?”    
  
Wasp let out an annoyed groan, feeling like she was getting pulled away from her live action soap opera just as it was getting good. “Fine,” she told Tony, and after putting her card back into her belt, she turned to Peter and smiled at him. “Hurry up and kiss the girl, bug boy, then come inside and join the party!” With that said, the Wasp flew away from the two teens and headed over to the elevator to go downstairs.    
  
This left Peter smirk at Wasp giddiness while Gwen just giggled. “Oh, the people that I work with,” Peter said with a sigh, then looked back at the blonde he just professed his love to. “Well Gwen, welcome to my world.”    
  
Gwen only smiled at Peter’s remark, for while she couldn’t disagree with him, she’s now gotten used to seeing weird things, from villains in Peter’s rogue’s gallery, to unintentionally becoming part of a superhero fighting tournament. And to show her acceptance of being part of Peter’s anything but ordinary life, she gently wrapped her arms around her neck, closed her eyes and went in for that kiss.    
  
A happy Peter wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Gwen’s waist, then closed his eyes as he leaned in…and finally pressed his lips against hers, finally engaging in the kiss that both he and Gwen wanted for so long and holding each other tighter as the kiss deepened.    
  
From defeating Osborn for good, joining the ranks of the Avengers and getting the girl of his dreams, Peter finally felt like he was on top the world. Though he knew his back luck will return to rear its ugly head in the future, he was content to worry about it later, as he wanted to saver this long, passionate kiss with Gwen for as long as possible. For despite the burden and responsibility of being New York’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, he now knew, in more ways than one, he didn’t have to go through it alone anymore.    
  
**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> Well guys, here it is, the last arc of the Contest of Champions story. It was a great ride, and I hope you've all enjoyed it. Stay Marvelous, my friends.


End file.
